The Cupboard Incident
by Tachyonic particle
Summary: Not finished, so someone please take it over and finish it! When Harry and Draco are locked in a cupboard together, the truth of Harry's past and his current troubles comes to light. What will Draco do with the information he has discovered? Warning: rated M for language and suggestion to violence and rape.
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

It was his second year at Hogwarts, he had barely survived his first year and only by some sheer miracle had he managed that. What had started off as a normal school year, after getting over the initial shock of the existence of magic, had soon turned into a hunt for the philosopher's stone. Which had ended with a battle to death with his Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher and Voldemort.

But when he got back to the Dursleys nothing seemed to have changed. It didn't matter that he had stood eye to eye with Voldemort and was now able to do magic, they were still as horrible to him as they had always been. Not that he really expected them to change.

Harry's second year hadn't started as he hoped, instead of blending in and having a normal year he was nearly expelled before the school year could properly start. _'Luckily'_ he had only gotten detention, and _'lucky'_ for him it had only been with Lockhart and not Snape as Ron liked to remind him.

It was now Saturday morning in the beginning of November as Harry sat in a closet somewhere on the fifth floor. He had gotten back from a detention with Lockhart the previous night and hadn't felt like returning to his dorm room. He didn't want to see his friends right now, or anyone else for that matter, and he knew that Ron and Hermione might have waited up for him. So he settled for an unused closet instead, leaving the door slightly ajar. He had felt completely drained and utterly exhausted before falling asleep on the cold, hard ground of his hideout.

When he woke up he was still feeling awfully tired and then the memories of last night came back to him. He had had another detention with Lockhart, which he had gotten because his last essay wasn't written well enough or something like that. He didn't really know why he had gotten the detention, but it didn't matter anyway for he couldn't do anything about them.

Harry's hands started to shake and his breath picked up as he thought of the previous night. He felt scared and just wanted to disappear. _Maybe Dobby was right and he should have never gone back to Hogwarts_ , He thought as he pulled his knees to his chest and wrapped his arms around them. _It wasn't save for him here._ He started rocking slightly and tears filled his eyes. But he couldn't go back to the Dursleys, they didn't treat him any better. He at least had his friends here, even if it felt like they were a thousand miles away. _No, he couldn't leave. Even if he wanted to, he had nowhere to go._ He was now full on crying, he felt so hopeless.

He was so caught up in his own thoughts that he hadn't noticed the door opening until it was shut with a slight bang. It startled him and when he looked up he locked eyes with none other than Malfoy. _Great!_ Harry thought, _of all people Malfoy – Malfoy! – had to walk in on him in this state!_ He quickly stood up and tried to wipe the tears of his face without the other boy noticing, but of course his attempt was a failed one.

"What the hell are you doing here, Potter?" Draco sneered, "wait are you crying? how pathetic!"

Harry looked at the ground as his heart pounded in his chest. "Shut up Malfoy! Just leave me alone."

"What did someone forget to kiss the ground you walk on?" he said in a mockingly while crossing his arms and leaning against the wall.

Harry felt agitated at the closed door and wanted nothing more than for Malfoy to just leave. "What are you even doing here?"

"Peeves came after me with water balloons so I decided to hide out here," he shrugged "but I guess he'll have passed on to annoy others now. I'll just leave you here with your stupid self-pity, you're no fun anyway." He pushed himself of the wall and tried for the door, but it wouldn't budge. "What the hell" he said as he tried again, pressing his whole weight onto the door but it still wouldn't move.

Harry anxiously watched Malfoy try to open the door, the other boy was now trying every spell he knew for opening doors and such but none seemed to work. Slowly the realisation dawned on him. He was locked in a cupboard, again… Tears fell from his eyes again and his breath came in ragged gasps. He could feel himself slipping into his past when his aunt and uncle had locked him up in his cupboard, it always meant bad news when they really bolted the door. He slid down the wall returning to the position he had been in when Malfoy had entered. His whole body was now shaking as a flashback washed over him.

 ** _FLASHBACK_**

 _It was an important day for his uncle Vernon because he had an important meeting at work Harry knew as he had overheard them speaking of it last night. So he mustn't screw up today. The morning started as any other, he was woken up by the stumping on the stairs and a minute later he was let out of his cupboard. He was allowed two minutes in the bathroom before he had to make the them breakfast. He was making them omelette which he had done a million times. But today he felt slightly nervous, desperately hoping he wouldn't mess up. His hands were shaking and he felt a bit dizzy. He hadn't eaten much the past few days, as he was only ever allowed the left overs. He picked up a fourth egg, ready to split it over the bowl, when aunt Petunia cried out for him to hurry up. Jumping at this remark as he hadn't heard her coming into the kitchen, he dropped the egg and knocked over the bowl. Fear washed over him, as his aunt started to scream at him in anger. 'He was useless and a disgrace! How dare he ruin the breakfast on such an important day! It was his fault that his uncle would be late now!'_

 _"_ _You did this on purpose, didn't you?" His aunt bellowed at him._

 _Harry was truly terrified now, "no, please, I'm sorry…please don't hurt me, I'm sorry" he stammered, but he knew it would be useless._

 _Vernon chose this moment to march into the living room, he had heard the commotion and demanded to know what happened and where his breakfast was. When he saw the broken glass of the bowl and the raw eggs on the ground, he understood. Without saying a word he strode over to Harry, who was cringing away, and roughly gripped his arm. Harry knew he would have bruises to show for it tomorrow, but he also knew that it wouldn't be the worst of his injuries. His uncle tripped him and pushed him on the sharp shards of the broken bowl. He felt the glass open his skin in several places, he hissed at the pain. However, as he had feared, his uncle wasn't done with him yet. He suffered several kicks in his stomach as he tried to curl into a protective ball. More cuts appeared on his body as he was pushed and kicked around in the fragments of glass._

 _He lay there helpless and defenceless, when his uncle pulled him up by his hair and dragged him to his cupboard. He was thrown in and the door closed with a loud bang. Vernon bolted the door, there was nowhere to escape now._

 _"_ _This is not over yet, Boy!" His uncle hissed at him through the door, and he knew the next time that door would open it wouldn't be pleasant. Not even trying for the door as he knew it wouldn't open and there was no escape. All he could do now was wait for his punishment._


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

"Ughhh great, it won't open. It looks like I'm going to be locked up with you here for a while. Or do you have another plan to get us out of here?" Malfoy sneered as he turned around to look at Harry, not that he could see very much in the shimmering light of the cupboard. But he was not expecting what met his eyes; Harry sat shakenly on the floor hugging his legs tightly to his chest, the begging of "I'm sorry… please don't hurt me…"accompanying the soft swaying of his body. Malfoy stood perplex, not knowing what to do. He had never seen Harry act this way, and knew something was seriously wrong. "Potter!" he called out, trying to get Harry's attention, but the other boy didn't seem to hear him. He sat down on his knees, so he was at the same height as Harry. That's when he saw his eyes; they were wide open as if in a trance, as if looking at some giant, scary, fire blasting dragon that wasn't really there. His whole body was screaming how frightened he felt. Malfoy knew that he wasn't that good an actor, and he was certainly not doing it to get attention since there was no one around to notice (besides himself). _Something is very wrong_ Malfoy thought. He reached his hand out to shake Potter out of his trance while he called out for him again.

Harry was shocked out of his previous state, but flinched away from Malfoy's hand. He felt utterly confused when his green eyes connected with Malfoy's grey ones. He realised that he was no longer in the cupboard under the stairs at number four Privet Drive, instead he was locked in a cupboard with Draco Malfoy at Hogwarts. Fear flushed over him again as his heart beat quickened. He tried to get a grip on himself by taking deep and controlled breaths.

He realised Malfoy was still looking at him when he had calmed down a bit. Neither boy wanted to break the silence that had now been stretching for several minutes.

Malfoy narrowed his eyes at Potter, "What the hell is wrong with you?" Harry flinched at these words, he knew exactly what was wrong with him: he was a freak and a waste of space, he had been told often enough by his relatives. He knew all the things that were wrong with him, but he wasn't going to tell Malfoy that, he didn't need to know that. "Nothing, just leave me alone."

"I can't we're locked in remember, or are you as stupid as you look?"

"You could try not talking to me." Harry spat back at him.

Malfoy huffed at that, "Nah, I'm rather interested what got you acting like a scarred five year old."

Harry saw the smug grin on Malfoys face, and quickly looked away not willing to tell him anything as he knew his face spoke a million words at the moment.

Before Malfoy could make more mocking comments they heard voices calling out for Harry. Both boys sprang to their feet and started banging on the door. "We're in here!" "Open the door!"

"Harry, is that you?" They heard Ron call back.

"Ron, we're in here! Someone locked us in!" He screamed back at him.

"Dammit, I can't get it open. Give me a sec I'll get someone to help."

They heard Ron walk away and were once again alone. Harry started whipping away any tears that still strained his face and erasing any evidence of his freak out.

"I guess you haven't told them then." Malfoy said studying his face for a reaction. He quickly stopped what he was doing and looked wide eyed back at Malfoy. _The other boy wasn't going to tell on him, was he? They would all know how pathetic he is and laugh at him. They would hate him just like his relatives._ He swallowed the lump in his throat. "Please don't…" _Had he really sunk so low as to beg to Malfoy?!_

"Hmm, let me think… okay, I won't,"

Harry let his shoulders sag in relief and let the breath out he only now realised he had been holding. His feeling of elation didn't last long though as Malfoy continued his sentence.

"but you owe me." He finished with a smirk.

Harry tensed up again, "what…" But before he could complete that sentence they heard the commotion on the other side of the door. They gave each other one last look, one pair of eyes filled with wit and the other with worry.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

They heard someone cast a spell before the door opened and they came face to face with a rather large group of people both students and professors. At the front of the group stood Professor McGonagall Professor Snape, Ron and Hermione. Their faces were plastered with surprise when Malfoy walked out first. "Finally!"

"Harry, are you okay? You're not hurt or anything?" Hermione asked concerned.

"I'm fine, don't worry." Harry replied, waiting for Malfoy to tell them the truth, but he didn't. So he must have been telling the truth when he said he wouldn't tell. Harry hadn't quite believed him, but then again he now owed Malfoy and he might be even more scared of that than the whole school finding out that he had absolutely freaked out.

Recovering from her initial shock McGonagall now had an angry expression on her face, "I want you to tell me what happened right now." She said sternly. Hermione had come to her that morning after breakfast informing her that Harry hadn't returned after his detention and he was still missing. She had sent several people on a search for the young boy, and this was a little over an hour ago. "Why didn't you return to your dorm last night?"

"I… um… I was really tired after the detention and um… I just, sort of, got lost… so… um… I decided to sit down and catch my breath, and I guess I just… kind of fell asleep." Harry stammered, his face red with embarrassment. Snape narrowed his eyes but decided not to comment on the obvious lie, so he turned to Malfoy his eyes still narrowed with suspicion. "And what were you doing here?"

"Well I was on my way back from breakfast when Peeves came after me with water balloons, so I hid out here, but he thought it would be funny to lock me in with this moron." Several sniggers went around the crowd.

"Next time I want you to ask a teacher to walk you to the tower if you feel you are unable to find it yourself, am I understood?" McGonagall said in a stern voice. "Now all of you go to your classes."

Harry caught up with Ron and Hermione as they walked down the stairs. He had seen the suspicious look on Hermione's face, but he was glad that she hadn't commented on the story that he had come up with.

When they entered the great hall later for lunch many faces turned their way and whispers broke out amongst the crowd. _Of course the rumour of me being locked up in a closet with Malfoy has already travelled through the whole school_ , Harry thought. Not that he had expected any different since the rumour mill was always up to date, especially when it concerned none other than the Boy-Who-Lived.

"Did you finally come out of the closet, faggot boy!" Someone yelled which send a wave of laughter after it.

Harry bent down his head as they sat down at the Gryffindor table.

"Hey Potter!" Harry sighted as he turned around to face the Slytherins Crabbe and Goyle. "We drew you a map so next time you can find your way to where you belong." They snickered as they handed him a single piece of paper. On it was a roughly drawn Hogwarts with a dotted line, like on a treasure map, with a cross next to what looked like three head stones. An on purpose very badly draw Harry walked over the line towards the tombstones. Two of them had his parents name on them, the last one had his name written on it. When the drawn Harry reached the end, a line which obviously represented a spell, hit him in the head and he fell over into the last grave.

Ron and Hermione who had been looking over his shoulder at the drawing, both turned in their seats looking furious at the two sniggering idiots who had started to walk away from them. Ron started for his wand, but Harry's "don't" stopped him. "Are you alright?" Hermione asked concerned. The only answer she received was him crumpling the piece of paper, dropping it on the table and giving her a smile. But she could see that the smile was a sad one. "Don't worry, mate, they're just a bunch of idiots" Ron pitched in. Suddenly not feeling very hungry anymore he stood up, "yeah thanks, I'm just going to do some homework." quickly walking away before his friends could offer to come with him.

Between Lockhart, his nightly nightmares and owing Malfoy for not spilling his secret (even though Malfoy didn't know exactly what his secret was, but he knew something), he really didn't have any energy left to deal with Slytherin bullies. He felt sick in his stomach with worry about it all, and more than anything he would just like to disappear to a place where he could truly feel safe and free, because Hogwarts no longer felt like his home.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

The next week went by slowly as he was waiting for Malfoy to tell him how he had to pay his depth to him. But all Malfoy seemed to do all week was to watch him with a suspicious eye. He had already come up with anything Malfoy might ask of him, which went from doing his homework for a week to things much _much_ worse.

Malfoy couldn't stand not knowing things and Potter just had one too many secrets for his liking. And not the boring secrets either. So he decided to watch him, in every class they had together, in the hallways, during breakfast, lunch and dinner. If possible he would also follow him any other time of the day, but he had to make sure no one noticed. He couldn't be seen watching the Boy-Who-Lived, that would give a very wrong impression. One that said he did not one hundred percent loath the other boy.

However Potter didn't act all that strange. He looked tired and seemed agitated, and even more so during the lessons they had together. But then again they shared Potions and DADA. The only reason Potter was anxious during Potions was because of Snape, who still suspected him of opening the Chamber of Secrets. Which he himself hadn't ruled out completely either, although it did seem a bit illogical and Potter simply wasn't that good. As for the DADA lessons it was most likely Lockhart striking him up as the hero every lesson and trying to become his best friend or something. Which he had to admit was a tad odd.

Malfoy decided that he would watch another week to see if he could find anything out, if not than he would just drop it and give Potter his way to pay him back. But for now he would keep his leverage for a little longer.

The week after resembled the previous week except for the DADA class. It had started out the same way as every other lesson, with Lockhart holding a monologue about mostly himself. They didn't learn that much in his lessons besides that he was supposedly the most brilliant and handsome professor and man they would ever meet. At the end of the lesson however Lockhart had come up to Potter and commented on him looking very tired. "I... uh... I just had some trouble sleeping last night is all" Potter stammered out. _Something is off_ Malfoy thought, _he looks more nervous than normal, even for him._ "I may have a solution for that, why don't you stay after class so we can discuss it." Lockhart told Potter. At those words he could see Potter tense up as his eyes grew larger, but he gave a small nod. _Lockhart is thinking of someone else for a change and Potter actually looks scared_. Malfoy was reminded of the closet incident when Potter appeared to act a lot like he was acting now. He had to know what was going on so when the rest of the class stumbled out of the room he told his friends he would meet up with them later. He quickly hid in one of the cupboards - _I seriously have to stop hiding in closets!_ he thought _-_ he left the door slightly ajar so he could clearly see Potters face from behind Lockhart.

As soon as everybody had left the classroom, Lockhart locked the door and put an extra locking spell on it. He also put a silencing spell around the room. When he was finished he turned around and eyed Harry. Harry just stood there, he knew what was coming and he couldn't do anything about it. He gazed at the floor as he fumbled with his hands. He felt Lockhart moving closer to him so they now stood directly across from one another. "Harry," Lockhart started "I still meant to tell you that I do not want you wandering the castle after your detentions with me. We wouldn't want anyone suspecting something, now would we?" The friendly smile that was usually plastered on his face had disappeared and was replaced by a stern and slightly angry look. "No sir, I'm sorry." Harry mumbled his response.

Lockhart reached out his hand to lay it on the boys shoulder, but Harry flinched away from the touch. Not enough to escape it however, because he knew it coming and had tried to supress his flinch as much as possible. The hand on his shoulder gripped him a bit harder so he couldn't move away again, and to remind him that he shouldn't resist for it would make it that much harder and painful in the end. Harry still kept his eyes down, inspecting the shoes that were now merely inches away from his own. He felt a hand on his chin that pushed his head up so he was forced to lock eyes with the taller man in front of him. He swallowed the lump that had formed in his throat, his eyes big and filled with fear. "You have such beautiful eyes Harry." Lockhart commented, his smile now smugly and his eyes filled with lust. Lockhart started to lean forward when they were suddenly interrupted by a noise from the other side of the room.

It had sounded like several books had fallen over and Harry searched where the sound had come from, when he noticed a pair of eyes stare back at him from within a cupboard. Lockhart searched the room as well, but he didn't seem to realise where the noise had come from since he had been so caught up with the boy now next to him.

Harry knew he couldn't let the man find out that there was someone else in the room with them, since he would surely be blamed for spilling their secret. He quietly pulled out his wand and sent a hex in the direction of Lockhart's office. Luckily the man hadn't noticed that he had pulled out his wand since he had his back turned towards Harry, he also hadn't heard him casting a spell since Harry could do it almost silently. Lockhart turned around and strode up to his office "stay here" he called after himself. When Lockhart was gone he quickly motioned for the person in the cupboard to come out. He wasn't all that surprised when he saw Malfoy stumble out of the closet, the slytherin couldn't seem to leave him alone lately. They looked at each other and Harry motion for him not to say anything. His heart was hammering in his chest as he quickly cast an unlocking charm. He had thought it to himself after his first detention with Lockhart not wanting to be locked up with him again with no way of escape, but the man had made sure he understood that there was no real way of escaping. When the door opened he quickly pushed Malfoy out and shut the door behind him. He put away his wand just in time to see Lockhart return to the classroom. Ones more he was alone in the room with his professor.


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

 _Previously:  
When the door opened he quickly pushed Malfoy out and shut the door behind him and putting away his wand, just in time to see Lockhart return to the classroom. He was ones more alone in the room with his professor._

Lockhart eyed him suspiciously, "did you find what made that noise?"

"Uh just a couple of books that fell over." Harry told him anxiously watching the door to make sure Malfoy was really gone and no evidence was left behind.

"Weird, same thing happened in my office," Lockhart said while he looked deep in thought, but then his usual bright smile reappeared on his face. "Ah probably just a coincidence, or are books starting to fall for me as well now" He laughed as he flipped his hair to a camera that wasn't even there. Harry chuckled nervously, not knowing what to say to such self-obsessed comments.

Lockhart turned back to Harry, "so where were we?" he said stepping closer to him once more. Before anything could happen however there was a knock on the door. Getting annoyed with being interrupted again Lockhart stalked to the door and opened it. "What is it you want?" he asked the boy at the door friendly, but his friendliness was obviously fake. "The Headmaster wants me to get Potter for him." Harry heard the familiar voice of Malfoy say.

"Why does he want him?" Lockhart clearly didn't want to let him go, especially not if it was anything less than an emergency.

Malfoy seemed to have picked this up, "He didn't say, but I was to retrieve him at once."

"Fine," his professor said curtly "Harry I want you back here on Friday evening after dinner to practise some more on that relaxing exercise." His eyes shooting arrows of meaning and warning at him. Harry quickly grabbed his bag and nearly ran from the room giving Lockhart a fast "yes sir" on his way out.

Relief flushed out of him as the door closed behind them. He started to walk away from the classroom and Malfoy, but he knew the Slytherin wasn't going to drop it that easily. Before he really knew what was going on the other boy had dragged him into an unused classroom further down the hall. Malfoy now stared at him with narrowed eyes "spill."

"What?" was all Harry answered, not willing to tell him his secret even though he knew that Malfoy probably already suspected what it was. Also he really didn't want to talk about it and definitely not to his arch-enemy.

"Oh don't be daft, you know what." Annoyance slipped into his speech. "What the hell is going on with you and Lockhart?"

"Nothing," Harry started to feel angry, he didn't want him to know, why couldn't he just leave him alone! "What do you care anyway!" he snapped at him.

"I don't" Malfoy spat back at him before leaving the room, not wanting to admit to either Harry or himself that he might actually care a little bit.

He couldn't care about Potter, that would simply be wrong. They were set out to hate each other from the start. They were rivals, opposites, not only in house but also in their experiences and character. But maybe that was the exact reason they should and could care about each other. For now both of them were too scarred and uncertain of the other to admit to any of that. So they continued to taunt each other in the halls, act as rivals like they were expected to. However both boys seemed more aware of the other and their torments less vicious.

They didn't speak to each other again the next few days, only a few side long glances to see what the other was doing. Malfoy had tried as much as possible to put it out of his mind, but couldn't quite seem to manage. His thoughts often slipped back to Potter and how close Lockhart had stood to him and how he seemed to touch him. It wasn't right. He knew he probably hadn't even seen the worst of it, and he didn't even want to know what more went on between them. He had a really bad feeling about it.

But maybe he had seen it wrong, maybe his suspicion was wrong. He could have seen it wrong, he could have imagined it. What if Lockhart was just nice to Potter? Tried to get closer to him to become more famous. That wasn't so horrible, right? But it didn't sit right with him.

He couldn't just assume what it was, his father had always told him to investigate properly before coming to a conclusion, and he simply didn't have enough information to draw a conclusion just yet.

Friday came too soon for his liking. He didn't have a plan on what to do yet, and he hated being unprepared more than anything. They were in the great hall for dinner and he could see Potter from where he sat. The other boy looked nervous again and he wasn't eating anything, only playing with the food that lay on his plate.

Not that he was doing much better with eating, but he just wasn't hungry. _How could he be eating if he knew – no suspected – what was going to happen right after dinner._ Even if it was his archenemy who would have to suffer through it. He couldn't honestly sit here and do nothing. He might not always be nice but he wasn't a bad person. He had to do something, anything.

Dinner was now nearly over and he saw Lockhart stand up and leave the room. His eyes travelled back to Potter who stood up to leave as well. _Shit_ Malfoy thought _what do I do?!_ How could he make sure Harry wasn't going to be in a room with Lockhart all night? He couldn't use the same excuse as before since they had all just been in the Great Hall with all the other professors. He needed to make sure that Potter was unable to go, and that is when an idea struck him.

He stood up and left to go after the Gryffindor. "Hey scarhead" he called after him with a snide in his voice. He already had his wand at his side. Potter turned around and when he saw Malfoy with a wand in his hand he went for his own as well. "What do…" but before he could even finish his sentence Malfoy sent a nasty boiling hex his way, hitting him right in the face.

Potter fell over on his back grabbing his face, where his skin was breaking out in nasty boils.


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

 _Previously: Potter fell over on his back grabbing his face, where his skin was breaking out in nasty boils._

There were only a few other students in the hall, and Lockhart had already turned the corner before he hit Potter with the hex. Unfortunately this did not mean he wasn't in trouble, for McGonagall stalked into the hall after hearing the commotion. When McGonagall saw one of her lions lying on the ground she hurried over to him. She checked on his injuries before instructing two nearby students to take Potter to the infirmary.

It was no big mystery as to who had hexed Potter since he still stood with his wand out. His transfigurations professor had unravelled this Cluedo as well, and was now aiming angry glares at him while marching up to him.

"Mr Malfoy, what were you thinking hexing another student? We do not tolerate such behaviour at this school. In my office, now!"

"If you don't mind professor, Mr Malfoy is in my house and therefore my responsibility." Snape interrupted, and saving him from getting expulsed by McGonagall. Malfoy felt relieved at Snape's words.

"And I would like to see him in my office at once."

 _Oh shit_ Malfoy thought, _Snape may not expel him but he would certainly have his head for hexing another student and being way to obvious about it._ He was a Slytherin after all and Slytherins were supposed to be cunning.

McGonagall gave Snape an angry glare before calmly responding "All right, as you wish. But do not let me hear that you are favouring him because he is in your house, his behaviour was simply reprehensible."

"Of course not" Snape answered stiffly before turning around and striding away his cloak billowing behind him. Malfoy was so caught up in his own thoughts and fears of his punishment that it took him a second to realise that he was supposed to follow Snape to his office.

"Sit" Snape ordered him as soon as he entered the office, he closed the door and took a seat on the other side of the desk. He felt slightly nervous as he had no idea how he could explain what he did.

"If you would be so kind as to explain why you felt the need to hex Mr Potter." Snape said his voice never wavering in anger but his annoyance clearly heard.

Malfoy was trying to come up with something to explain his actions without getting him detention, but nothing came to mind. Accept for the real reason he did it of course, but he couldn't tell that to Snape, or anyone else for that matter. He had promised Potter not to say anything, plus he wasn't even one hundred per cent sure of it. If he did tell and it turned out not to be true he would be in even more trouble for lying and making up rumours on top of hexing another student.

"Well…" Snape was still waiting for his explanation. "I'll just assume you had no valid reason for it then." Pausing to give Malfoy a last chance to speak up, which he took.

"I do!" Malfoy quickly said.

"Well what is it then, because you know hexing another student is not allowed. And I don't know why you felt it necessary to do so in a hall with several other students." Snape looked at him expectantly.

"Uh… never mind I don't have a reason, just give me the detention already." He knew there was no way out of it and he didn't really want to give his professor a reason to be suspicious by being vague, although it might already be too late for that.

"No you told me you had a reason, I want to hear what could possibly be a reasonable explanation for your actions." Snape was now definitely annoyed with him and possible a bit angry, but he never showed his emotions like that, so it was hard to tell.

Malfoy swallowed the lump that had formed in his throat. "No never mind I don't" Snape was now staring at him, it felt as if he was trying to see straight through him, with the intensity that leered in his eyes. Malfoy tried with all his might to ignore the stare, but it felt like with every move he made his secrets would become visible to his head of house. So he yielded, a little bit.

"Fine," he finally admitted "I do have a very good reason, but I can't tell you." He was trying very hard not to fumble with his fingers.

"And why is that Mr Malfoy?" Snape asked relaxing his gaze a little.

"Because I promised I wouldn't tell." He said slightly insecure about his answer.

"Who did you promise that to?"

"Potter."

"So you're telling me that you hexed Mr Potter for a reason that you can't tell me because Mr Potter asked you not to. To be clear Mr Potter asked you to hex him?" Snape eyed him suspiciously not believing a word he was saying. _Why would he, it doesn't make any sense without the rest of the story, which I can't tell._ Malfoy thought desperately. Snape had seen the sneer on his face that gave him away.

"I thought so. Now, you will be spending the next two weeks, every Monday, Friday and Saturday in detention, starting tomorrow. You will be spending it with me and I want you to be there at eight. No excuses."

"Yes sir." He understood a dismissal when he heard one, so he left his professor's office heading back to the dungeons.

Great he had gotten himself detentions for helping Potter. He could hardly believe it himself. A year ago he would have thought that to be a great freaking joke, but now… Things had taken a different turn and he couldn't see Potter the same way he had seen him at the beginning of this year. That didn't mean it was something bad altogether, although his parents wouldn't be happy to hear he had gotten himself a detention for 'something so stupid'. He was a Malfoy after all.

He needed to talk to Potter, he decided. Whatever was going on with their newly found alliance (or whatever you could call it), he didn't want to give up on it yet. And the only way of not losing it was to explain to Potter why he had hexed him. If he didn't than they would go back to being enemies and there wouldn't be another chance of being something more and better than that, maybe even a friendship. But Malfoy knew he shouldn't expect that, Potter had made clear to him last year that they weren't friends.

Malfoy realised he was still heading towards the dungeons, while he had no desire to be there. Pansy would surely interrogate him and she wasn't one to let things slip by so easily. To be honest he wasn't quite ready to face her, not before he had spoken to Potter. Which he wasn't able to do now either, since the Gryffindor was still in the hospital wing and he was pretty sure that his friends would be with him. So he decided to hide out in the library and visit Potter after curfew.


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7**

Curfew had finally struck and Malfoy was now heading out of the dungeon on his way to the infirmary to visit Potter. After hiding out in the library for a while he had gone back to the dungeons just in time for Snape's check up to see if everyone was there. When he headed back to the door Crabbe and Goyle had stopped him asking where he was going, but he had blown them off with some lame excuse.

He walked up the last flight of stairs on his way to Potter. He was slightly nervous, if he were to get caught he would be in big trouble. But that was not really the reason he felt so agitated, something in the back of his mind was itchy but he didn't know what. Maybe it wasn't such a good idea after all.

He stood in front of the doors to the infirmary, he couldn't turn around now. He needed to talk to Potter and he had climbed up all those stairs to get here. Gathering all his courage he slowly pushed open the door and walked in, closing it softly behind him. He looked around the dark infirmary which was usually brightly lit, but the only light this evening came from the reflecting light of the moon. It gave the whole room a mysterious and slightly spooky gloom.

He noticed that only one bed was occupied, so he snuck over to the bed knowing that Potter lay in it. He was easily recognised by his dark muffled hair and his slender form. His glasses lay on the table besides the bed and his eyes were closed. Malfoy caught the slow rising and lowering of his chest. _Oh great he's asleep, now what?_ Malfoy thought.

He could try to wake him, he wasn't asleep for that long since it was just past curfew. Deciding on his course of action he gripped Potter's shoulder shaking it some, softly saying his name. No reaction came from the sleeping boy. Malfoy was now leaning over him as to better talk into his ear. He tried again shaking him a bit more roughly than the last time.

Harry heard a muffled voice through his sleeping daze, someone was very near his bed he thought. That's when he realised that a hand was shaking his shoulder. He blinked a few times before opening his eyes fully. He was shocked when the sight of someone being so very close to him came into view, way to close. He screamed as his initial shock washed away and was replaced by utter fear. A hand quickly covert his mouth to silence him.

His friends never woke him up like this, he needed to escape whoever was on top of him. Without his glasses and in the dark he had no idea who he was fighting off of himself. He was trying to kick, punch and push his way from under the other boy. 'He needed to get away now' was his only thought as all alarm bells went off in his head.

Suddenly the hand let go of him and the other person backed off. Potter tried to get away from them as soon as possible and crawled to the other side off the bed not realising the edge was so close. He toppled of the bed and landed with loud thud on the ground. Barely realising what happened he tried to drag his body further away until his back hit the next bed.

He crept under it in an attempt to hide. His breath came in raged gasps and his whole body was shaking. He couldn't see much and he had no idea where he was. Tears now filled his eyes. He was panicking, he needed to calm down. But how could he possible calm down, someone was after him and he had no clue as to what they wanted from him.

He tried to take deep breaths. Only then did realise that the other person was talking to him again. "Harry, I'm sorry. Harry please listen to me."

Malfoy didn't know what to do, Potter was clearly scared. He had called out to Potter several times but the other boy didn't even seem to hear him. He needed to come across as less of a threat, so he called him again but this time using the other boy's given name. He lowered himself to the ground and crept under the bed that Potter had been sleeping in.

They were now facing each other from under their separate beds. It appeared that this calmed Potter down a considerable amount. "Harry, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to hurt you." Harry's big, green, wet eyes stared back at him, fear still at the forefront of them. _Shit I'm not getting through to him,_ Malfoy thought _I need something to show that I mean it._ An idea hit him and he rolled from under the bed and stood up to grab Potter's wand an glasses. When he had them he lay down under the bed again.

He moved toward Potter, but Potter only moved further away from him. Deciding on a different approach he placed the glasses in front of him and gave them a hard push so they slid over to the other boy. For a few seconds Potter only stared at them, but then his hand cautiously moved out to grab them. He looked at them a bit longer before placing them on his face. He blinked a few times, the tears had stopped streaming down his face and he was now able to see properly.

His eyes moved back to the boy under the bed next to his, and he recognised the other boy as Malfoy. _What is Malfoy doing here?_ He thought, but before he could think any more about that something else rolled his way. He quickly picked up his wand, and pointed it at the blond boy.

Now that he could see, had his wand and knew that the intruder wasn't a danger to him he calmed down quickly. Memories of earlier that evening came back to him and he realised that they were in the infirmary and curfew had passed a while ago.

"What are you doing here?"

"I needed to talk to you, can we now get out from under these beds I'm sure lying on top of them is a lot more comfortable than lying under them."

Slowly both boys rolled away from under the beds and stood up. Malfoy who was a bit quicker grabbed a chair and sat down next to the bed Potter had been sleeping in, expecting him to get back in it. Potter stood there for a minute not quite trusting the other boy, especially after he had hexed him. He however decided that Malfoy wasn't going to be as stupid as to hurt him while he was still in the infirmary and Madam Pomfrey was not that far away, so he climbed back into his bed.

He kept his wand in his hand just to feel safe. "Why are you here? " Potter asked again.

"Because I wanted to talk to you, I need to explain why I hexed you after diner."

"I don't think you need to explain to me that you hate me, I'm not that dense." The fire in Potter's voice was slowly returning.

"I don't hate you, I was just trying to protect you."

"I'm in the infirmary! How is that protecting me?"

"Because…" Malfoy took a deep breath and looked away, "you didn't have to meet Lockhart."

Silence fell around the room. A bit unsure Malfoy looked back up at Potter to see his face in a mixture of shock and confusion. Potter was thinking over what Malfoy had just told him. _He hexed me so I didn't have to meet Lockhart, he actually tried to save me! But that means… he knows!_ His breaths came in faster again, and fear had taken over his face.

"Harry," Malfoy whispered "what's wrong?" concern filled his voice. For some reason Harry knew that the other boy actually cared about him, at least a little bit. It was clear in his voice and his actions, maybe he could trust Malfoy?

"You know, don't you?" he whispered just loud enough for the other boy to hear him, he didn't look him in the eyes knowing he couldn't trust his own face not to show how hurt and scared he really was.

Malfoy knew what Harry meant. "I suspect, but I don't know anything for certain unless you tell me."

Harry had wanted to tell someone for so long now, but he just didn't know who he could tell. He didn't want to bother anyone with his problems. He could have told Hermione and Ron, they were his best friends, but he didn't think they would understand and even if they did Hermione would only worry over him and start smothering him. And Ron would most likely be angry for him and not know how to act around him. They would be walking on eggshells, when all he wanted was to be treated like a normal person. Besides that Hermione would force him to tell a teacher or Dumbledore or she would tell someone herself, and he couldn't let that happen. He knew the consequences to telling, Lockhart had made sure that he would never forget those consequences. This was also the exact reason he couldn't tell any of his teachers or Dumbledore. Lockhart would know immediately if he told any of them since they all worked, saw and talked to each other daily. A student could much more easily hide his secret. But even then it would be risky and he didn't want to put anyone in danger. However Malfoy would be different, they weren't really friends and as far as anyone knew they hated each other's guts. He knew Lockhart kept a suspicious eye on his friends and most Gryffindors, but he wouldn't bet Malfoy a second look.

But could he really trust Malfoy, his ex-enemy but not quite a friend either. He really didn't know what they were anymore.

"Would…" gathering the last of his courage, "would you tell anyone if I told you?" He was looking at his hands that were fumbling in his lap.

"Not unless you want me to. Potter, I know you don't trust me and we haven't exactly been friends, but I want to make a new start. I think that maybe you're not as bad as I thought you were."

 _Did he just give me a compliment?!_ Malfoy wouldn't do that unless he really meant what he said, he has gone through so much trouble just to help him out when he really didn't have to. Harry put his wand back on the nightstand, and extended his hand out to Malfoy.

"Maybe you're not as bad as I thought you were either and I'd like that new start."

Draco took his hand and shook it. This was the start to something new, something neither boy knew they had needed for so long.


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8**

 _Previously: Harry put his wand back on the nightstand, and extended his hand out to Draco._

 _"_ _Maybe you're not as bad as I thought you were either and I'd like that new start."_

 _Draco took his hand and shook it. This was the start to something new, something neither boy knew they had needed for so long._

They sat in silence for a while longer, both not knowing what to say. It wasn't an uncomfortable silence, it wasn't completely comfortable either, they were both utterly caught up in their own thoughts, thinking about their new found friendship and other things. Harry didn't know what to say, their previous conversation was a no go since they had been talking about Lockhart and he wanted to tell but he was also not quite ready at the same time.

There was one thing he was wondering though, was he supposed to tell his friends that Draco and he were now friends?

"So…" Harry started not quite knowing how to continue.

"Would you mind if we didn't tell people that we are friends now? It's just that they're going to ask a lot of questions… and uh… we can't really tell how we got to be friends, so they would know something was up… and uh..." He stuttered not wanting to meet Draco's eyes. Most of all he just didn't want the attention they would get; the stares and questions people would direct at them.

Draco's eyes searched over him, trying hard to read the expressions on his face, which was quite hard since there were so many all at once.

"Yeah of course, I was kind of thinking the same thing. My father wouldn't be very happy if I befriended you and the other Slytherins would kill me for befriending the enemy."

Harry chuckled, which in turn made Draco laugh as well. This whole situation was ridiculous!

"Do you maybe wanna hang out tomorrow? I've got Quidditch practise in the afternoon, so maybe in the evening?"

"Want to but unfortunately I can't I've got detention."

"What did you get a detention for?" Harry said half laughing.

Draco gave him a look, one that asked if he really was that dense.

"What?" Now feeling slightly insecure and maybe a bit like he was missing something obvious.

When it took too long for Harry to realise, Draco nearly yelled at him "For hexing you, you idiot!"

His eyes widened in realisation, he hadn't quite know what had happened after he had been hexed and taken to the infirmary.

"Oh god, how bad is it?" His face squinting in sorrow and uncertainty.

"Monday, Friday and Saturday starting tomorrow for the next two weeks with Snape."

"I'm so sorry, this is all my fault. You were just trying to help me. I'll fix this okay."

"How were you planning on doing that? You can't exactly tell him why you thought it was okay for me to hex you."

"I'll figure something out."

"Al right" They exchanged a look and then both smiled.

"I have to go now, don't want to get caught." Draco told him while standing up.

"Meet me in front of Snape's office before breakfast?" It's was more a command than a question "I'll have a plan." Harry said more sure of himself than he actually felt.

"Sure, see you tomorrow!"

"Goodnight!"

The next morning Harry was released by Madam Pomfrey after she had done one last check-up. It was about an hour before breakfast, but he was up anyway feeling slightly nervous about meeting Draco today. He really hoped his plan would work, since he felt so guilty for getting Draco the detentions.

He quickly got up and got into the clothes that were left on the chair beside his bed. Greeting the healer on his way out he left for the dungeons where he and Draco would meet. They hadn't really set a time but he decided he would just wait for the other boy to show up.

Luckily he didn't have to wait very long as Draco walked into the hallway only fifteen minutes later. The blond walked over and stopped about two feet away from him, looking expectantly at him.

"So what are we doing here?" Draco asked, wanting to know what Harry was planning to get him out of his detention.

"Well… I figured we could just ask Snape to un-give you the detention." Sounding rather sheepish since he hadn't really been able to come up with a better plan.

"That's your brilliant plan?!" Draco hissed at him, looking at him with wide eyes. "I guess I shouldn't have expected anything better from you. I can tell you right now that it won't work, so I guess I'll see you around." He said before walking away.

Grabbing Draco's arm before he can walk away, "Wait" Harry said as he turned the other boy around so they were standing face to face again. "Can we at least try?" because he needed to do something and this was all he had.

After a moment he agreed "fine", motioning for Harry to lead the way. He stood a little back as Harry knocked on the door, he knew it wasn't wise to stand in the line of fire when Snape got annoyed and he was sure that bothering him on a Saturday morning to ask him to take back a detention was doing exactly that.

They heard some grumbling and shuffling behind the door as they looked at each other one last time before the door opened. Draco could see the nervousness in Harry's eyes, but it was accompanied with determination which was of course part of his stupid Gryffindor bravery.

The pale, tall demeanour of their professor stood in the open door a second later, surprise caught on his face for a second. The last thing he would have expected in the morning was _Potter_ knocking on his door, and least of all would he have expected Draco to have accompanied _The Golden Boy._ Even his thoughts had a sneer to it as he thought of the Gryffindor.

The flash of surprise was too short for either boy to notice. To them Snape's only reaction was his raised eyebrows. "To what do I owe the pleasure for the two of you to disrupt my morning?" Snide clearly heard in his voice, which was of course always there when he was talking to _The Boy Who Lived._

Harry looked back to Draco suddenly uncertain of his plan, but all he got from him was a motion to get on with it. Gathering all his courage he turned back to Snape, "Uh… we just wanted to ask you a question, sir." Snape didn't answer.

After a moment Harry realised that Snape was waiting for him to ask the question, but he didn't want to do so in the hallway where they could be overheard. "Can we talk about this inside your office?"

"We _can._ " Snape said putting extra emphasis on the word can, but he didn't move out of the way so his students could enter. He'd rather they just left him to his peace.

Draco, after realising that Harry hadn't understood their professor's remark, spoke up for him. He also rather not discuss this in the open. " _May_ we discuss this inside please." rolling his eyes at the desperate attempt to teach Harry the difference.

In answer Snape stepped aside for them to enter. With a swift movement of his arm two chairs appeared in front of the desk that stood nearly in the middle of the room, a little closer to the window facing the many bookshelves that occupied the room.

The boys each took a seat, while their professor closed the door firmly and went to sit on the other side of the desk. "What is it you want from me?" he asked a soon as he was sat, turning towards Malfoy who had not said much and seemed to have some resentment against being there. He however had to turn his head as Potter spoke up.

"I wanted to ask if you could take Dra… Malfoy's detention back?" He said determined, but it was slightly lost on him as he immediately turned his gaze towards his hands, which he was fumbling with, as soon as Snape's eyes caught his.

Snape looked the boy up and down wondering if he really heard what he just heard. He had, his ears hadn't deceive him. But why would Potter ever call the other boy by his first name, they never did that. And then there is the question of why he doesn't want Malfoy to get detention for hexing him.

"Tell me, why would I do that?"

"Because I'm asking and he hexed _me_." Emphasising the 'me'. He was unsure of his answer but he tried desperately to hide it.

"That is still no reason for me not to punish Malfoy, he broke school rules and he will have to face the consequences of his actions."

"But it was my fault." Harry whispered just loud enough for the others to hear him. He took a deep breath as he realised that Draco was staring at him as well now.

Draco's heart clenched together as he heard Harry's remark. _He really does think it is his fault_ , the blond realised. He was looking at the other boy in disbelieve. He wanted to tell him that none of it was his fault, but he couldn't, not with Snape in the room. He tried to converse this by shaking his head nearly unnoticed when Harry looked at him, but it was a failed attempt he understood as the raven-haired boy quickly looked away from him in embarrassment.

Snape watched the exchange with interest, something was going on but he couldn't quite put his finger on it. He needed to test whatever bond the two of them had created, if they actually had created a bond of course. He narrowed his eyes in suspicion.

"Alright," he said facing Potter "if you so desperately want for me not to give Mr. Malfoy detention, than you would have no problem taking them over for him." Now leaning forward to better observe the boy's reaction.

Harry's eyes widened, it had worked, well not exactly as he had planned. "Yes, of course sir." He replied to his professor's surprise. This was at least a way for him to pay Draco back for the trouble he had gone through. His willingness to except the punishment shocked Draco to some level, they hadn't even been friends for more than twelve hours and Harry was already taking the fall for him. He wanted to protest, but before he got the change to do so Snape spoke up.

"Of course I can't take away all of Mr. Malfoy's detentions," the other teacher would suspect he was favouring his Snakes "but you can divide them." Too curious about their change in interaction he couldn't help but add "You'll have to spend them together," Potter surprising him again but releasing a sigh of relieve "tonight, Monday, Friday and Saturday next week I want the two of you here at eight." It would be a perfect opportunity to research their new found loyalty or whatever it was.

"Yes, thank you sir." Harry replied knowing that this was the best that they were going to get. He stood up to leave as he took Snape's return to the papers in front of him as their que to leave. Draco who was a little confused as to what just happened, Snape never changed his mind like that, followed Harry out of the office. But he wasn't going to question it as he just got out of half of his detentions, and he would be able to spend the few that he did have with Harry instead of alone, which would probably make it a lot better. Although maybe the best thing about it was that they could spend time together without anyone questioning why.


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9**

At the end of their meeting Harry and Draco stood at the door discussing who was going out into the hall first. They didn't want to raise any suspicion. So it was decided that Harry would go out first and Draco would follow him a few minutes later. Their voices were strained but Snape could just make out what they were saying. He had great hearing which he prided himself on; it often came in handy with the whole being a spy business.

Draco watched as his friend left the office first, his eyes were filled with concern. How could he possible protect him when they couldn't even be seen in public together? Besides a fake fight once in a while of course. He felt eyes pry at the back of his head so he turned around to look at his professor who had been studying him vigorously.

He saw the questions portrayed on the potion master's face and he wanted to answer them so badly. He couldn't do this alone and someone needed to look out for Harry, someone who could actually do something, who could shield him from all the bad in the world. He opened his mouth while Snape patiently waited for him, but he abruptly closed it again.

He couldn't say it out loud. It wasn't even his secret. Harry had asked him not to tell. So many reasons not to, but none good enough to outweigh the bad. He shook his head, he couldn't do it. He needed for Harry to confide in him or Snape or at least someone. He didn't think that Harry had ever really talked about it or even spoke the truth of it out loud.

Draco himself didn't know the full extent of what his friend was going through, but it was bad. And when you really looked, past all the Golden-Boy bullshit, you could see that he stood at the edge. About to breakdown at any moment. Not that he would show that. But when he thought nobody was looking, his face would fall and his eyes go dead. A second later his mask would have reappeared and he would be laughing along to some stupid joke.

His laugh had changed, Draco realised. Last year he had sounded happy and energetic, where he now merely sounded hollow, dripping in faked glee. These thoughts captured his mind while making his way down to breakfast and all the way through it as well. He noticed that he had been studying Harry all throughout breakfast the way Snape had been studying them earlier.

Harry threw another anxious glace at Lockhart who had been eyeing him far and wide from the moment he had entered the Great Hall. It had been nearly three weeks since their last 'private session' or 'detention' and he knew from the way that his professor was looking at him, that it had been too long.

He was happy that he had been able to avoid it for so long, but that didn't distinguish his anguish. Lockhart would now try even more profoundly to get him alone. He couldn't escape him forever. He looked back over at Draco; he knew the other boy's actions could only put the dreaded event off for so long.

He looked at his breakfast which he had barely been eating. Not that anyone noticed. The Gryffindors around him were all too busy with the match they were about to play and even if they did notice they wrote it off to nerves.

Not that he had ever really eaten much and he was small for his age, but all of that could be written off to being malnourished at the Dursleys. He got food most of the time at that house, but never quite enough. And one of their favourite punishments had been to withhold food from him for a day, sometimes longer.

His stomach never seemed to be able to hold too much food, a lesson he had learned his first night at Hogwarts at the feast. He had eaten as much as he could, trying everything. It had all tasted so good; he had never eaten such delicious things, ever. But that had all been forgotten when he was sick an hour later and thrown it all up in the toilet he had only just managed to reach. Ever since then he ate as much as was absolutely necessary.

What he however didn't realise was that this time someone had noticed that he wasn't eating. Not just Draco but also Snape had been watching him during breakfast. But just as many others Snape wrote it off as anxiety over the game, nevertheless was he planning on keeping a closer eye on the boy. Draco in the meantime had decided that he was going to prod Harry to talk to him and confide in a teacher.

That evening they had their first detention together. Draco was already there when Harry strolled in just as the clock ticked eight. Snape led them into his classroom and told them to scrub the cauldrons clean without magic of course, and then quickly went back to his office, leaving the door slightly ajar so he could hear what was happening. He realised that if he would stay in the room their interaction would be quite different from when they thought that they were alone.

Draco and Harry both grabbed a cauldron and a brush and started scrubbing in silence. After twenty minutes of silence the blond finally asked what he had wanted to ask since breakfast; "Do you ever eat, because you're like a skeleton and you haven't been eating all day" He blurted out. He had watched him and noticed that even at lunch and dinner Harry hadn't been eating.

The smaller boy looked up surprised that the other boy had noticed. "Not hungry" he muttered and averted his eyes. His suspicion from earlier that morning had turned out to be true and completely ruined his appetite. Lockhart had managed to corner him on his way back to the Gryffindor Tower. Luckily Hermione had saved him, not that she knew she had of course. She had been badgering him about his homework since she noticed that his marks had dropped since last year and she was now pushing him to work harder.

Draco was looking at him questioningly. "It's just…" Harry started not completely convinced if he should be telling Draco this, "never mind."

"No Harry, just talk to me. I promise I won't tell anyone." He had laid down his brush and was looking at his friend. The raven-haired boy had stopped scrubbing to think this over, before hesitantly putting his brush away and turning around to face Draco. Daring a glance at the still open door to Snape's office but he didn't think that Snape would be behind the door listening in on their conversation.

"Lockhart, he… he cornered me after breakfast…" His voice was barely more than a whisper.

"He didn't _do_ anything did he?" Draco asked afraid of the answer. Shocked eyes turned his way, but then Harry lightly shook his head "No" his voice had gone tight. The silence between them stretched for a few minutes before he continued "but he'll have an excuse for letting me stay after class or a detention or something on Monday." Swallowing a lump in his throat "I don't want to" he muttered looking straight into Draco's eyes.

The blond didn't know what to say to that, being comforting had never been his strong suit, it just wasn't how he was raised. His father had always taught him to be upstanding and never show emotion. _Damn it, why can't my father ever teach me anything useful?_ He thought _oh for merlin's sake I'm actually going to have to ask him outright or he won't admit to it_. He hated his plan but he needed to do this for both their sakes, because he was going to need Harry and Harry clearly needed him.

Closing his eyes and cursing himself a few more times. He opened them again and looked straight into the green eyes, "he touches you… inappropriately, doesn't he?"

A long silence followed that question, before Harry finally averted his eyes and nodded, trying to swallow the lump that had formed in his throat he added in a soft, cracked voice "Yes."


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10**

Harry's confirmation of his suspicion was not something Draco expected to get so easily, but it really didn't matter how he got it as long as he got the truth from his friend. Unfortunately he didn't know how to respond to this. Anything along the lines of 'it will be alright' just seemed pitiful and completely useless, and any questions he wanted to ask didn't feel right to ask right now. So he stayed silent, and so did Harry.

The silence stretched on for a long time, but after a shared meaningful look they both decided that words weren't needed. That look said more than a thousand words, it told Harry that Draco understood but didn't know what to say. It wasn't filled with pity; he knew Harry would probably not want that, at least he would never want that. However the look Harry gave him told him that it was okay.

And so to their mutual understanding they picked back up where they left off with cleaning the cauldrons. The rest of the detention was filled with small talk about Quidditch and classes until Snape waltzed in and told Harry to get back to his dormitory. Harry took his escape as fast as possible leaving the two others behind.

Snape turned around to face his godson after watching Potter leave. "Sit" he told Draco as he took a seat opposite of him. A million thoughts were going through his mind, he took a deep breath trying to get his thoughts straight. "I heard your conversation at the beginning of tonight's detention, I take it that is the one you wanted me to 'accidentally overhear'." Draco had come into his office earlier that day telling him it might be a good idea if he 'accidentally overheard' what Potter would say this evening.

Several things had crossed his mind, but he had definitely not expected a confession to being molested from the boy. As head of house to the Slytherins he has had to deal with those kind of cases before, not very often luckily. However it had never occurred within Hogwarts and to those children this castle was like their safe place, sometimes even their home. And now it had been invaded. He had promised to protect them, and this had slipped him right by. Damn it, he had sworn to protect the Potter child and he had failed.

He felt angry and sad at the same time and after he had had this conversation with Draco he was going to have a serious word with the Headmaster. He had not just hired the most annoying teacher but apparently also a very incapable and dangerous one. Tuning his emotions down for later and putting on a calm face in front of Draco he turned back to the boy who was nodding to his statement.

"Will you help him?" He asked a little unsure, he knew how much his godfather hated Potter.

"Of course I will. I might not like the boy very much, but no one deserves this." Snape replied. "It was very good of you to bring this to my attention, but this is not something for you to worry about. Now I want you to go back to your dormitory and go to bed. You are not to tell anyone about this, do you understand?" continuing once Draco had nodded, "Good now go." He said sending the boy on his way. This night was going to be a lot longer than he had liked. Turning around to walk to the fireplace in his office; grabbing a hand of floo powder and throwing in into the flames "Headmasters office."

"Ah Severus, what brings you here tonight?" the Headmaster said looking up from his paperwork on his desk when the flames in his fireplace flared up and Snape stepped out.

"Your incompetence is what brought me here!" He snapped. He should have probably walked up to the office so he could cool off a bit, but in his anger he took the quickest way here. Dumbledore laid down his work, realising that whatever had his potions master so worked up had to be serious. Snape didn't very often let his temper lose, so whatever it was required his attention. He knew it would be best to let the professor rant for a little, and he simple raised his eyebrows in question.

Snape was now pacing the room, "do you even care to look at the wizards you hire! Last year you let Voldemort into the castle as the teacher for Defence Against the Dark Arts and this year you put a paedophile and a rapist in front of the class. Do you not care or are…"

Interrupting Severus tirade he asked "Severus, calm down. Have a lemon drop and tell me again what is bothering you, slowly this time." Snape took a deep breath knowing that his ranting was useless, but sometimes the headmaster could be so infuriating. After he had himself in more control he stood opposite the headmaster, not yet calm enough to sit down, and started over. Telling the older man what had occurred during the detention and what Potter had confessed.

When he finished the twinkle in the other man's eyes was gone. He looked beaten. Snape had no doubt the headmaster was blaming himself for letting his golden boy get hurt.

"I will need to hear this from Harry as well if we want to press charges, but I don't think that will be the best course of action. I have no doubt that if we do, the press will get wind of it and I would like to avoid that for Harry's sake. We will speak to him tomorrow and see what he thinks. Has he been seen my Madam Pomfrey for any injuries?" Dumbledore said in a depressed tone.

He had gone dead serious. After putting him in danger last year and having him hurt again, he needed to do everything in his power to make it up to the boy. This needed to be fixed and he was going to see to it that it would be.

"No, but it would be best to do so after he has talked to someone about this or at least after someone has talked to him." Snape answered, he got the feeling that the headmaster was getting too emotional to deal with this, probably being too caught up in memories of the past. Of course Albus has had to deal with cases like this in his career before, but never had it involved a teacher and never had it involved a student he cared for so deeply. Severus however knew much better how to keep his emotions in check and he knew how to deal with these kind of things, so it seemed he needed to take charge a little here.

"Alright, his head of house needs to be informed as well as Madam Pomfrey. We will meet this afternoon so we can discuss what needs to be done and I would like both of them and you to be there as well. Afterwards he can have his physical exam." Albus said trying badly to keep his head straight. With a slight nod Severus show his agreement.

Now looking up desperately at the younger man he continued. "Perhaps it might be good for him if you set your differences aside. He might even confide in you." A miniscule sparkle had returned to his eyes even if the rest of him seemed to have aged years.

"With all due respect headmaster, I don't think Potter will ever trust me enough for that."

"You'll never know, will you at least try to talk to him?"

With a small nod he left the room. To his own annoyance he started to feel a little concerned about the boy. Shaking his head at that thought he stepped back into his own quarters. He might as well give it a shot, he knew how much of a difference a person to confide in could make.


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter 11**

Harry woke up the next morning because Ron was shaking him awake, saying something about breakfast. Sending his friend on his way so he could get up more slowly. Ron had never had any patience when it came to food. Ten minutes later he walked into the Great Hall and sat himself beside his two best friends.

Hermione immediately asked him about the detention he had the night before, she was annoyed when he had told her about it but more towards Snape than him really. Although she was starting to notice that he had gotten himself a lot more detentions than last year and probably even more than the Weasley twins got, which was no short of a miracle. Especially since there was barely ever a good reason for him to receive punishment.

Something was very off. She had spoken to Ron the night before when Harry was gone, but he just told her she was worrying too much and that Snape had always disliked Harry. However Hermione wasn't sure if he was reassuring her as much as himself. Either way he was of no use to her; so she had decided to question Harry for herself, maybe that way her red headed friend would realise that something might be seriously wrong.

Although it did not quite go as she had hoped, because Harry clearly didn't want to talk about it. He only gave her short answers, and when asked about Draco he fell silent for a minute and then told her that he had been his usual annoying self.

Harry looked over at Draco, before turning back to playing with his breakfast. Contrary to what he told his Gryffindor friends, he had actually quite enjoyed the detention last night. Draco and he had gotten the chance to talk to each other and after a while the conversation had flown effortlessly. It had seemed like they had been friends for years; even with Hermione and Ron he had not always been able to talk so easily.

He was deep in thought thinking about the next detention he could spend with Draco and realised that he was actually looking forward to it. Caught up in his own surprise of it all he hadn't noticed Snape coming up behind him until the man cleared his throat. Turning around in surprise he looked up at his professor.

"If you are quite done playing with your food Mr. Potter, you may follow me." Snape told him in his usual sneer. Caught off guard and having no idea what he had done this time for Snape to seek him out like this, he replied with a whine "What, why?"

"Five point from Gryffindor for being disrespectful? Now follow me Mr. Potter you will be serving another detention with me right now." Snape was quite content to take points from the little lions.

Groaning, how could he get another detention, he was pretty sure he hadn't stepped a single foot out of line. "But why sir?"

"Because we do not condone with students wandering the castle after curfew. And if you don't get up now I will take more points." He was getting annoyed at the resistance in the small boy.

Harry got up quickly not wanting to lose his house any more points. He had however no idea what Snape was talking about, he had gone straight back to the tower last night. Snape was making this up, probably just to be able to punish him more he realised while follow his professor out of the Great Hall.

Or maybe his professor wanted him alone… His breath came faster to him as he thought of all the lies and excuses Lockhart had told to get him alone. A tight feeling came up in his throat, and to no success he tried to swallow it down. What if Snape had found out somehow and was going to take a page from Lockhart's book. That thought was too much for him, he couldn't keep things like this happening to him. He didn't want this.

He realised that Snape had probably overheard him and Draco last night. Tears filled his eyes. This was all his own fault, if he hadn't said anything this wouldn't be happening. It was all his fault! He was shaking all over. He wanted to run, scream and escape this nightmare somehow. But he couldn't, his knees would buckle and fighting was useless in these situations and would only end up hurting him more; he knew that.

Voldemort was easier, he could fight him. But these people had a power over him that made resistance futile. So he walked on behind his professor in a numb pace. He was biting his lip in an attempt to keep tears from falling down. Unknowingly blood was flowing from the small cuts his teeth had made in his lip.

After what seemed like an eternity they finally arrived at Snape's office. His professor opened the door and without looking back at him he told him to hang his robes over the chair and get comfortable. Fear shot through Harry's eyes. He didn't want this, why couldn't Draco save him now! Tears were now freely falling from his eyes, and his shaking had gotten worse; so much even that his knees buckled. He fell to the ground in a hump. He was barely able to catch a breath because of the tightness in his throat.

Severus heard the thud of the boy's fall and found him lying on the ground; a complete mess. Blood was flowing from his lip down his chin and tears stained his face. His whole body was shaking and when he got closer he could see the fear in the boy's eyes.

Immediately recognising it as a panic attack he kneels down beside the boy "Harry, I need you to look at me." Snape's voice was calm as always, but the usual sneer or annoyance was nowhere to be found. He moved his hand forward to stabilise the Gryffindor, but he only scrunched away from his touch.

Making a mental note he calmly continued, careful not to touch Harry or make any surprise movements. "Take a deep breath. Just breathe with me okay." He slowly got him to start breathing again, it was still rigid but he already looked a bit more at ease than he had a few minutes ago.

They continued to breathe together, with reassuring words for Snape in between, till Harry was calm enough to sit up. After nearly half an hour Snape stood up and asked Harry to do the same; offering him a hand. Harry, still shaky from the attack, reluctantly accepted the hand. When both of them stood Snape led them over to the couch by the fire.

The flames were rich and made the room comfortable warm. A shiver however still went down Harry's spine, but this had more to do with his tiredness and thinness than the warmth of the office. As soon as they were sat a tray with tea appeared on the small table before them. Snape reached over and poured two cups; handing one to Harry and taking the second one himself.

Seeing the suspicious look on his pale face, Snape tried to reassure him "It isn't poisoned, so drink up." Harry slowly took a small sip from his cup. Not tasting anything odd, he took another big gulp. "However I would like you to drink this," grabbing a potions vile from his cabinet. The potion had a deep blue colour Harry saw as Snape handed it to him. "it's a calming draught, Potter. Now drink it." Harry's suspicion of all the things he handed him slowly got on his nerves. _Did the boy really think he was going to poison him?!_ That was ridiculous; he would go straight to Azkaban. If he really wanted to kill him there were much easier and safer ways for him to do so. Not that he was, but having been a Death Eater does teach you some things.

Harry grimaced at the taste of it. He still didn't trust Snape, but he had drunk the potion anyway thinking that if it killed him, it wouldn't be all that bad. At least he wouldn't be miserable and in pain anymore. He wouldn't have to see Lockhart or the Dursleys again. A small disappointing look crossed his face for a mere second when he realised that Snape hadn't been lying to him and that it really was a calming draught.

"Good, now that you're a bit calmer we can have the conversation I brought you here for." He told Harry. Seeing the confused look on the teen's face he elaborated "Last night I heard Draco and you converse about what Professor Lockhart did to you." Horror struck Harry's eyes, making the colour dimmer to a flat green one. He scrunched away further into the corner of the couch they were sitting on away from his professor.

Snape sighed deeply trying to catch the younger's eyes "If you would rather talk to someone else about this that is fine, but you'll need to tell me." That got the boy to finally look up at his professor "Someone else knows?" he whimpered in alarm.

"I only told the headmaster because if we want to do something about this, he'll need to know." Getting no response he continued "Although it would be a good idea for your head of house to know and Madam Pomfrey. Would you be more comfortable to speak to either of them about this?"

Harry bit his lip as he thought about what Snape had just said. He didn't believe him when he said the headmaster would do something about this. After all he had told him that he didn't want to go back to the Dursleys last year and he still had to go to that horrible house all summer. But he didn't feel like sharing this thought with his professor. Furthermore he had no desire to talk to anyone about… it. He was embarrassed; he was supposed to be the boy who lived, who had defeated Voldemort when he was only one. But he couldn't fight against his stupid DADA professor?! He was simply pathetic.

He shook his head in answer to Snape while thoughts flowed through his head like the waves of the sea bringing new thoughts in and washing others away. He wanted to escape the clutches of Lockhart and he knew he couldn't do it on his own. Maybe Snape really wanted to help him, he was rather convincing. But maybe he was just a good actor and wanted Harry to open up to him so he could bully him more in class. He would make everyone laugh at how pathetic he was, and when his friends finally saw that he wasn't the great saviour of the Wizarding World they would abandon him. And he would be all alone, _again_.

He was trapped in a sea of fear and every move he made there was more water, no shore in sight. It felt like he was drowning.

Snape saw the reluctance in Harry. He recognised it; he had been the same, not trusting anyone when he was still a child himself. He decided to throw the child a rope, the way he had hoped someone had done for him at that age. "Harry, I know you don't trust me. I have never given you any reason to, but I'm asking you to now. Not for me but for yourself. You can't let him go on like this, _I_ can't let that happen." He took a deep breath before continuing, he had never talked to anyone about this besides Lilly. But he had made her swear an unbreakable vow, so no one had been able to save him when his father went after him. Luckily it wasn't that often and never really injurious. "I know what it is like for an adult that you should be able to trust to exploit that power. My father did that, albeit in a different fashion. I never trusted anyone with that information and things may have transpired different… better if I had at the time."

If he hadn't been so caught up with his hurt and confusion of his mother's death, which he blamed himself for, he might have never fallen in line with the Dark Lord. His father had hit his mother one too many times while he was off to Hogwarts for his last year. He hadn't known that the older man was that abusive towards her, but he had always thought that if he wasn't so ashamed of his own weakness that someone could have saved her. But that didn't mean he couldn't save anyone from the same faith he had had to suffer.

"Harry, I promise I will never do that to you. I will never hurt you, in any way." Sincerity filled his voice, and he tried to convey this to the boy by looking him straight in the eyes. When had he started calling him Harry, that bloody sentiment was getting to his head again.

Harry was amazed at what Snape was telling him. Ever since his first potions lesson he didn't think he could trust Snape, ever. The man had been picking on him and been mean to him on purpose, he hadn't even done anything yet. Of course he wasn't the first to do that, but he had hoped that things would be different at Hogwarts; where his relatives couldn't convince everyone that he was a horrible child.

However for some reason Snape was actually being nice to him now, he had even given him leverage. Snape couldn't tell anyone about Lockhart or Harry would open up his mouth about Snape's father. Also Draco seemed to trust him, so maybe he could too. He really hoped he could. It was probably the only way he was going to get rid of Lockhart, and how much worse could his potions professor really be?


	12. Chapter 12

**Chapter 12**

"Why are you being nice to me?" Harry asked Snape, they had been sat on that couch in silence for several minutes while Harry thought his professor's words through. There was just one thing that he didn't understand; Snape had always hated him and he had been sure that the older man was going to hurt him when they had walked up to his office this morning, so why was he offering to help him?

Snape was thinking on what was the best answer to that question, he didn't want to talk about the promise he had made to protect him or the life debt he owed him through his father, all that would distract from what they were discussing. So he decided to keep it simple, the boy didn't need any more things to think about, "Because it is my duty to protect you."

Silence filled the room again before he started to ask the questions that needed to be asked in order to access the damage done to the boy. His voice was business like without a sneer or gentle touch to it. "Harry why didn't you tell anyone about Lockhart? We could have helped you a lot sooner if you had confided in someone." He expected the boy to say something along the lines of being embarrassed or scared. He had however not expected the answer he got.

"Telling only makes it worse, it's not like anyone would help me." The answer was deadpanned, like it had been drilled into his mind. The worst of it might be that he truly believed it. When Harry looked up at him, he could see the glance that covered his eyes taking away the liveliness that usually resided there.

"Why do you think no one would help you?" He needed to know this. The boy had a fan club and many people who cared about him, why the boy thought no one in fact did care was astonishing to him. But all he got was a shrug as the boy averted his eyes to look at the shelves of books along the wall. He was clearly not going to get an answer and he didn't want to push the boy too much in this stage so he moved on. "Are you hurt right now?" Harry shook his head. _Good,_ Snape thought, with no immediate need to go to the hospital wing they could first have this conversation before getting him looked at.

"When was the last time you and Lockhart were alone?"

He had to strain his ears to hear Harry's answer "Three weeks ago."

"Do you want to tell me about it?" His voice was a little gentler than it had been before. This was always the most difficult part; the first conversation. It doesn't get much easier after that, but they would be able to start the road to recovery from here. That road would be much easier to travel if the boy accepted the help he was offered. It would still be bumpy and long but they would get there in the end. It would also be easier to get rid of Lockhart if Harry told him what that bastard had done to him.

The silence stretched a long while before Harry slowly started the story of the last time he had been in Lockhart's office. His voice was still insecure and soft. He told Snape about how his professor had given him detention for practically nothing; about how he had come in and the brightly smiling man had put him on the couch while he put locking charms on the door and silencing charms around the room.

Harry took in a deep breath before continuing with the way the older man had sat beside him and put his hand on his thigh, turning Harry's body to face him before moving his other had to his face forcing him to look Lockhart in the eyes.

He didn't dare look Snape in the eyes now, too scared of what he would find there. His voice had grown a bit stronger, but it wobbled again as he told the next part. Lockhart had told him he was beautiful as his thumb moved over Harry's bottom lip. He was told to relax before lips crashed against his and he was pulled down, under Lockhart. He was unable to move as the bigger man lay on top of him.

Tears filled Harry's eyes as he remembered everything vividly. His body was trembling again. He didn't want to continue, he just wanted to crawl into a corner and hide. With pleading eyes he looked up at Snape, whose eyes seemed to gloom a little more by the moist that had found his way there. But most of all he found reassurance. No hate or mockery as he had expected. Tapping into the last of his Gryffindor courage he finished the story.

Lockhart had undressed him with eager hands, and continued to turn him over on his stomach before penetrating him. It had hurt. And when Lockhart was done with him, he had dressed as fast as possible and fled the office.

Harry had pulled his knees up to his chest and his arms were around his chest. Tears were flowing freely down his cheeks and his voice had gone rough and was breaking several times while he had spoken the last part.

"P… please make him stop." The young boy whimpered, looking up with tortured eyes. A last drop of hope still visible in the corner.

It took everything in Snape to keep in control of his emotions. The boy needed him to be calculating and protective, he was useless if he let his anger flare. So he took a breath and slowly moved a hand towards Harry where it was in view and careful not to make any sudden movements.

His arm moved around Harry's shoulder pulling him into a hug, putting the small head on his shoulder. He stoked the messy black hair while telling him "I will. He won't hurt you again, I promise." That was the last straw for the young teenager as he broke down into fierce sobs on his professor's shoulder, grabbing the man's robes tightly with his hands.

"Shhh, it will be alright." Snape reassured him. He kept stoking the black mess the boy called his hair till Harry quieted down a little and he felt the grip on his robes loosen. He had fallen asleep from mere exhaustion. Snape picked the small boy up in his arms and walked through the door that connected his office with his private quarters. Passing another door he lay Harry down on the bed in the spare room.

Only taking off Harry's outer robe, as he didn't expect him to like it if he changed him into pyjamas, even if he did it magically. He tugged the blanket tightly around the boy's small frame. Conjuring a candle that he put beside Harry's bed, and closing the curtains. He put a ward on him that would go off if he awoke and left the door slightly ajar, as he moved into his living room. Leaving the boy to some much needed sleep.


	13. Chapter 13

**Chapter 13**

Lunch time came around and Harry was still sleeping, so Snape decided that it wouldn't harm the boy to let him sleep a little longer. He however wanted to eat his lunch in the great hall in order to keep an eye on Lockhart. He strode into the great hall on his own and sat himself amongst the other teachers. Of all the things he expected, Granger and Weasley making their way towards him, was not one of them.

Hermione and Ron sat at the Gryffindor table waiting for Harry. They both were a little worried about the detention he had gotten that morning since they had been waiting up the night before and Harry had arrived so early that it would be impossible for him to have wandered the castle. Later Ron had been awake and Harry was still there. Snape liked to bully Harry, they both knew that, but this time he really went out of his way to do so.

So when Hermione saw him walk into the great hall alone, and with no sight of Harry anywhere, she figured something was wrong. Harry never missed a meal; even if it was merely to poke at his food or to grab a sandwich on his way. She grabbed Ron's arm to get his attention. "Harry isn't here, I'm worried." she told him.

"Relax 'Mione, he'll be here." Ron tried to reassure her.

"Then why is Snape here already?"

She was getting annoyed at Ron's breezy attitude, while on the other hand Ron was getting annoyed with her worrying. If Harry really was in trouble he would tell them, right? They had been through a lot together last year and they had told each other everything.

"Well what would you like to do about it? Ask Snape if he murdered Harry and left his body in the dungeon for his bats to eat?" He asked her sarcastically.

"As a matter of fact yes," she said determined "and bats don't eat humans, Ron. That's ridiculous!"

Hermione moved to stand up when the red head rolled his eyes at her statement, but Ron grabbed her arm at the last second.

"You are seriously going to ask Snape?" He asked bewildered.

"Yes. Are you coming or not?" a little impatient she asked.

Ron rolled over his options in his head before he stood up to follow her.

"I'm only coming so I can carry your dead body back. I promise we'll mourn you." Now it was Hermione's turn to roll her eyes at his overdramatic statement.

They arrived at the head table, where all teachers were now curiously looking their way. Eyebrows shot up even further when she addressed Snape. "Sorry to bother you Professor, but do you know where Harry is?"

"I do" was all Snape answered her, before taking another bit from his sandwich.

A little unsure, as she had not expected such a short answer, she continued. "Is… is he still serving his detention from this morning?"

"He is" clearly their professor felt no need to elaborate, so Hermione, feeling she was dismissed, turned around and walked back to the Gryffindor table. Both of them sat down.

"See nothing to worry about, he's probably still scrubbing cauldrons." Ron told her as he turned back to the food on the table and grabbing a treacle tart. Hermione however wasn't thrown of so easily.

"He was lying, I don't know why, but he was." She said while contemplating her own statement.

"How in bloody hell would you know that?" Snape's poker face was extremely good; there was no way that she had detected him lying that easily.

"You really think he trusts Harry enough to leave him alone in the potions classroom; with all his precious ingredients at arm's reach." She said sceptically, putting emphasis on the last part.

At this Ron stopped eating. Turning the thought over in his head. "Okay, fine. Let's go."

"What? Where?" Hermione asked him.

"To see if Harry really is in the potions classroom and if he is alright." He stated matter-of-factly while walking out of the great hall, the bushy haired girl on his tail.

Hermione had already noticed that Harry was behaving weird before and she thought that there was something he was upset about. She had tried to talk to him, but he wouldn't have it. He kept telling her that he was fine and that there was nothing to worry about. Of course she didn't believe him, but maybe he just needed his space. He would talk to them eventually about what was bothering him. After a while she had gotten sick of the waiting and she had told Ron again convincing him that they needed to help their friend.

So they had pulled Harry aside and sat him down. Assuring him that he could trust them and that they were there for him. But he had only gotten mad at them for meddling and told them to keep their nosy noses to themselves. They hadn't spoken to each other for a few days, but after that things had gone back to the way they were. Hermione however was still worried, but she didn't want to push and lose her friend.

They arrived at the classroom. They tried the door, of course Snape would lock it but with a quick _alohomora_ they stepped through the door. The room was completely empty. Snape always lets you do the detentions in the classroom, so he had lied about Harry still doing them.

They moved further into the room. "Harry" Ron called out, but no reaction came.

Ron walked up to the door that led to Snape's office. This door wasn't locked and he walked into the office, and for the first time he had the chance to really look around. The room was loaded with books and pretty dark as there was only one window which looked out into the lake.

Hermione moved up behind him, "we should really be going. He isn't here."

But now that they were here Ron got curious, as slightly opened doors often do. And there was a slightly open door on the other side of the office, so he moved forward to peek through the gap.

"I think this leads straight to his private quarters." He stated. Hermione was now pulling his arm a little; she didn't want to get in trouble for snooping like this.

"Harry" Ron called out through the door he had pushed open a little further.

"What are you doing?" Hermione asked him, did he really think Harry would be here? But Ron just shrugged and told her "at least worth a try."

They started to move back a little, it would be a good idea for them to be gone before Snape got back. But they both stopped as the heard a noise coming from Snape's private quarters. Someone was there, but they were certain that Snape hadn't come in yet. Also it sounded nothing like Snape, it sounded like someone just stumbled over something. It was a bang followed by distant cursing. Snape was neither that clumsy nor that rich in his expressions.

The noise had come from the door almost opposite from the door they were standing in. It slowly opened and the black haired boy they had been looking for stepped through it, looking utterly disorientated and sleepy. His clothes were rumpled and his hair looked even more of a mess than usual. He rubbed his eyes, trying to get the sleep out of them, when he stopped in the middle of his movement as he heard Ron's exclaim "Harry, what in Merlin's name are you doing here?"

Harry lowered his hand as he looked up at the shocked faces of his two best friends. His own eyes going wide at the realisation that he had just been caught sleepily walking out of the spare bedroom in Snape's quarters. How was he supposed to explain this to his friends? He wasn't ready to tell them everything yet. He would probably, eventually tell them, but he just wasn't ready yet.

"Uh hi" was all he could come up with on the spot. Why couldn't his life ever be easy? He had embarrassed himself in front of Snape today and now this. He wanted to crawl into bed and never come out again.

But before either of his friends could ask too many questions Snape appeared behind them. Their professor cleared his throat as none of them had heard him come in. Ron and Hermione turned around and jumped back at the same time, shocked at the man that had silently appeared behind them.

"Sorry Professor" Hermione started to stutter, but a look from Snape silenced her.

"Both of you will write me a three foot long essay on eel's eyes and the use of them in potions." Moving his hand in a way to show that they were supposed to leave. Hermione looked back at Harry, but with a nod of his head telling her he was fine, she left following Ron out of the dungeon.

Harry and Snape were now alone and Harry felt nervous at that. He had embarrassed himself this morning; he had completely broken down. So he was now uneasily looking at his shoes.

"Potter," he started, he had unknowingly shifted to calling him Harry this morning but he saw no reason to continue doing so. He had thought Potter would trust him easier if he was called by his first name and it had worked, so he had continued doing so when he realised he had already started doing so. But now that they were through that first phase and he had Potter's trust, or at least a bit of it, he could go back to calling him by his last name as he called all the students by their last name.

And even though the boy was struggling, he was still that annoying boy he had always been. He had no doubt that once Potter went back to his relative he would be spoiled even more so than he already was in attempt to make him feel better. Yes he had felt for the boy this morning, but it was merely a weak moment of sentiment. (Or so he told himself) So he had decided that he would shift back to calling him Potter.

"The headmaster requested a meeting so that we can discuss this and what the best way to proceed is. He also asked Professor McGonagall and Madam Pomfrey to be there."

This struck a nerve with Harry; he didn't want to talk about any of this again. He looked up with fear in his eyes. "Do I have to go?" he asked.

Snape had already expected this response and thought of a solution. "There is another option. If you prefer I could go and show them the memory of our discussion this morning. That way you won't have to retell any of that now. You are however expected to be in the infirmary at four o'clock for a check-up."

Potter nodded in acceptance of the second option, he really didn't want to face any of the other adults now. He also knew that there wasn't a third option which let it all disappear unfortunately. Snape gave him a brief nod and told him that he could go and that he could use this time to work on his homework. "Maybe you could try getting an acceptable for it for once." and with that Harry left Snape's quarters and walked up to the Gryffindor Tower.


	14. Chapter 14

**Chapter 14**

Not long after Harry left his quarters did Snape have the meeting with the headmaster, McGonagall and madam Pomfrey. He walked up the stairs till he arrived at the Gargoyle. "Fizzing Whizbee" he told it and then it moved to reveal the turned staircase that lead to the headmaster's office. He knocked on the door and stalked into the room. Both Dumbledore and McGonagall were already there, having small talk. They looked up as he strode in. He took one of the two empty seats that stood around Dumbledore's desk. He didn't join the conversation that the other two occupants of the room continued to have.

A few minutes passed before the floo flared up and Madam Pomfrey stepped through. Greeting the others as she took the last free seat at the desk between Snape and McGonagall, since the tall man had sat himself in the chair furthers away. The chatter went on for another minute before Dumbledore took the meeting to a more serious level.

"Severus, did you already talk to Mr. Potter?." The headmaster asked him calmly, raising his eyebrows a little in question.

"I did," He answered, not showing the annoyance he felt towards the headmaster for being right about Potter opening up to him. "and I have a memory I think you should watch." He waved his wand in the air and summoning the Pensieve that Dumbledore kept in his office. The two women watched the interaction with interest as they had not yet been told what all this was about.

"What's all this about, Albus?" McGonagall asked, now curious as to what was going on.

"Unfortunately, something came to light concerning Harry Potter and Professor Lockhart." The headmaster said with a sorrowful sigh. This of course didn't make things any clearer.

Snape in the meantime had pulled out the memory and dropped it into the large silver bowl. He had already picked the memory out of his mind before he came here and put it in a small bottle. He wanted to make sure that only the things necessary were there, so he had had to cut it a little shorter but not much else needed tempering with.

He signalled the older man that he was ready. "Perhaps it is best to watch the memory first. However I feel the need to warn you that its contents may be of a dark nature and should not be taken lightly." The headmaster's cryptic words sounded. He motioned the two ladies to join him, and the three of them put their heads in the Pensieve. Snape did not join them as he had already seen it.

He sat down in one of the chairs, his thoughts drifting off to what would come next and how they were going to solve this problem. It continued on to a plan he would set in motion if nothing else could be done. He was not going to share these thoughts with his colleges, as he was fairly certain they would not (completely) agree with him.

In the earlier days of Wizarding World people like Lockhart had gotten different punishments than they got these days. Now they were simply sent off to Azkaban, but long before the war against Voldemort or Grindelwald there was a potion that was forced upon rapists and child molesters. Now however the potion was banned and considered dark, but that does not mean the recipe couldn't be found. In fact Snape was pretty sure that it was in one of the books in his private quarters.

Before he could speculate more on his plan he was roused out of his thoughts as the others emerged back from the Pensieve. Madam Pomfrey's face was sad and tears were in the corner of her eyes. Dumbledore himself had gone a lot paler and was trying hard to keep it all together. McGonagall however was angry, there was a sadness on her face as well, but most of all she was furious. How could this have happened without anyone noticing for so long!

"How could this have happened?!" She said, her voice a little louder and stronger than usual. She turned towards Dumbledore with questioning eyes. He led that man into the castle, he trusted that man with the children!

"I don't know." The old man answered tiredly. They all took their seats once more before the headmaster continued. "What's more important now however is how we are going to deal with this?" He tried to sound steady and assembled, but his face spoke of a different world where clouds betrayed their usual sunshine.

"We need to call an auror in on this; that man needs to be arrested and locked up." McGonagall said sternly.

"In any other situation I would agree, but I don't think it is wise to do so now. I'm positive that reporters would get wind of this…"

"But they keep the identities of the victims secret in trails like these." Madam Pomfrey chipped in.

Dumbledore turned sad eyes towards her as he answered "They do. However this is The Boy-Who-Lived, they will figure it out eventually. Either because he is missing from school at the same time as the trials are or because he might be seen nearby. If we go to aurors with this, there will be a trial, and I do not think it is in Harry's best interest if the whole Wizarding World knew about this."

They all heaved a sigh as they thought about that. The silence stretched on until McGonagall interrupted it. "He can still be fired on suspicion, right? That way at least he won't be hired near any children."

"Yes it seems that is the best solution for now." Dumbledore contemplated. "Lockhart will be gone by the end of the evening. As for Harry, he will come to the infirmary for a check-up at four o'clock. Severus, could you be there as well since he trusted you enough to talk?" It was more of an order than a question. The sparkle that usually resided in the headmaster's eyes had faded after they watched the memory, but it had returned at the thought of his two favourite boys becoming closer.

Snape merely gave a nod of his head in agreement. They talked a bit more and then rounded up the meeting. They had agreed to keep a closer eye on the boy, but that was not Snape's main thoughts at the moment. As he had suspected there was not much going to be done about Lockhart since the headmaster had forbidden them from doing anything else to the bastard. At least that is what his words were saying, his expression clearly had other ideas. And Snape knew exactly which one to listen to, he already had something planned and he still had some time to set his plan in motion before he was supposed to be in the infirmary.

He entered his private quarters and walked over to one of the bookshelves. After a minute of looking he found the book he was looking for; it was a book on dark potions. It was called _Penology Potions Throughout The Ages._ It covered several potions that had been legal and actively used in earlier ages on criminals, depending on their committed crimes. However most of these were no longer used or in several cases even became illegal.

The potion Snape was looking for was now considered a dark potion, so he had to be careful. He looked at the recipe and then went to his storage cupboard and collected the ingredients he needed. He moved into his office which also functioned as his personal potions lab. He started preparing the ingredients and put silver cauldron on the fire. The potion was not very difficult to make, but it did require precision.

He was done at a quarter to four, all it needed to do now was shimmer on a low fire of a few hours and it would be completely ready. He cleaned up the last of his things and left for the infirmary. When he arrived Potter was not there yet so he sat down in Madam Pomfrey's office as she had coerced him in doing so. After twenty minutes the boy still wasn't there and Snape was getting annoyed.

When half an hour had passed he stood up to leave. Madam Pomfrey assured him that the boy had probably just forgotten about it and they would make a new appointment for the next day. After Snape left, she fire called McGonagall, letting her know that Harry hadn't show up and that she expected him tomorrow at the same time.

When he got back to his office, he checked up on his potion before settling to mark some essays. It was a dull job but he needed to finish it and he needed to pass the time. After an hour he went back to his potion, it was almost done now. All he needed to do was add the last few ingredients and stir three times counter clockwise.

He bottled the finished potion in four vials, three needed to be administered, but he wanted to keep the fourth to be sure. He called his house elf and gave him the assignment to spike Lockhart's drink for the next three days. The house elf took the vials; he would put one in the next drink Lockhart ordered from the kitchen. For the others he would have to sneak into the man's house to do so, as his master had already informed him that Lockhart wouldn't be in the castle much longer.

He arrived in the great hall for dinner and was glad to see that Lockhart wasn't there; with a bit of luck he had already left the castle. His suspicion was confirmed when Dumbledore stood up to make an announcement.

"Attention please. I regret to inform you that as off today Professor Lockhart will no longer be teaching at this school. Certain events caused us to lose the trust we put in him to teach properly and to care for his students in a dignified manner. I will be looking for a replacement for your Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher, in the meantime however your classes will be taught by Professor McGonagall, Professor Snape and I. Now please enjoy your meals." With a clap of his hands the food appeared on the tables.

During his speech all students had fallen silent, but now murmur rose in speculation of what had happened. Draco, the only other student who knew what really happened, looked happy and relieved. Harry on the other hand was still tense, he was scared that word would get out. But he was also relieved he didn't have to see Lockhart ever again. He looked up at Snape and when the man locked eyes he gave a short nod of appreciation that Snape answer with a small nod in acknowledgement.


	15. Chapter 15

**Chapter 15**

Harry had managed to avoid Ron and Hermione all day, but he knew that he had to face them again during diner. He expected them to start firing questions his way before he had even managed to sit down properly. They wanted to know what he had been doing in Snape's private quarters that morning, and he understood their curiosity, but he didn't want to talk about it now. It had been a long day and all he really wanted was to go to bed. He knew however that he would have to tell them eventually.

After the headmaster's speech Hermione noticed that Harry had tensed a little and was now only playing with his food, pushing the potatoes around with his fork . "Harry, are you all right?" Hermione asked him concerned. The black haired boy had no idea how to answer that question; he wanted to lie and tell her he was fine, but he was sick of lying to his friends. Now however wasn't the time or place to tell them what had been going on. He had a lump in his throat and he tried to hold back the tears that were forming in the corner of his eyes. He didn't know if it was because he wasn't quite sure how he was supposed to feel now that Lockhart was gone, he should be happy. But that just wasn't really how he was feeling. Yeah he supposed he was glad for that, however there was a sort of emptiness inside of him and he didn't know what to do with it. Even more so he didn't know how he was supposed to act or what he had to do. He felt lost and it was all getting too much for him.

The moment Hermione asked him how he was doing all these feelings boiled up in him and he felt like a cauldron ready to explode. All he seemed able to do was shake his head in answer. Hermione's eyes widened with concern and she scoot over closer to her friend to lay an arm around him in comfort. Even Ron had put down his dinner, which was unusual for him, to see what was going on with his friend. However before either of them could ask him what was wrong he shook his head again and a whispered "later" left his lips.

He dropped the fork he had been previously holding onto tightly and pressed the palm of his hands onto his eyes in an attempt to hold back the tears. Hermione was now rubbing his back, but however nice the gesture was meant to be, it only made Harry feel like breaking down more. He shrugged of her hand and stood up. He stood still for a second while he wanted to tell them something, but nothing seemed to pass his lips, so he decided to give up and without uttering a word he walked out of the great hall. When he was out tears slipped down his cheeks and his legs felt heavy, but despite that he ran all the way up to the Gryffindor tower and up to his dorm where he threw himself on his bed. He could no longer hold back the sobs that over took him and his whole body was shaking with them. He cried his eyes out for what seemed like hours. When his tears finally slowed down and his breath came easier to him, he felt drained and he let the tiredness overtake him as he felt into a restless sleep.

Snape and McGonagall sat next to one another at the head table. When Harry left the great hall in a hurry both of them turned a worried eye towards him. McGonagall had already been told that Harry hadn't shown up at his appointment at the infirmary, but she didn't suspect anything of it. Harry has always been a bit disorganised and it wasn't unusual for him to forget something. Still there was something itching inside her, it didn't completely sit well with her. But she figured that whatever was wrong they would figure it out tomorrow when Harry had his new appointment.

On the other hand however Snape didn't believe for a second the boy not showing up had been accidental. To him the boy had always been prone to rule breaking and he had always just done what he felt like.

Either way both their minds were fixed on the young lion when they left the great hall together. McGonagall's thoughts had drifted off to the punishment that Lockhart had gotten and what she had done. She knew that Snape was not going to let their ex-colleague go so easily even if Dumbledore had told them not to do anything. Although she was pretty sure that the headmaster would turn a blind eye to whatever they would do. But in the position he was in, as headmaster and by many considered quite close to Harry, there was nothing deleterious he himself could really do.

She was curious as to what Snape had done or was planning to do or if there was something more they could do, so she invited him over to her own office. Snape reluctantly followed her; he already knew she was going to ask him if and what he had done, but he also knew that she might not completely agree with him. They sat down in the two comfortable chairs near the fire.

When McGonagall however started talking small talk Snape interrupted her. "Just get to the point." He had had a long day and he didn't want to stay too long, he had a strange feeling that tomorrow wasn't going to be any shorter.

"Right, straight to the point as always." McGonagall said. She waited a second before continuing, "What are we going to do about Lockhart?" Looking straight in the black eyes before her, unable to read them.

"Don't worry, I've got it covert." He told her with a straight face, giving no indication that he was going to explain to her further. This however got her interested, Snape clearly had something planned and she wanted to know what. She leaned forward with attentiveness. "Go on then tell me what you've planned." she urged him.

"Have you ever heard of the potion _Donec Rursus_ ?" After receiving a questioning look he continued. "Until a hundred and fifty years ago the potion was used as a legal punishment for rapists and child molesters. However it was decided that it was too brutal and thus classified as a dark potion." He looked at McGonagall who was now waiting for him to explain in more detail what the potion does. "Essentially anytime he feels sexually motivated the potion makes it impossible to act upon these desires by shooting a pain through his sexual organ which can be measured to the amount of pain of a little less than the cruciatus curse. Even the thought of anything erotic, appropriate or inappropriate, will cause this amount of pain. Besides that it also makes it impossible for his sexual organ to get erect."

He took another small break, as he was not completely comfortable discussing this with his fellow co-worker; especially with the stern and judgemental look she was giving him. He always found it easier to approach these topics with a more scientific view, one he always used when he worked on his potions.

"The reason however that it is no longer used is because there have been numerous accounts of criminals who had been submitted to the potion had gone mad, and also quite a few of them have been recorded for suicide." At this last part McGonagall's eyes went wide, but she decided not to comment on it. Instead she completely ignored the last part after her initial reaction, it would be better to pretend Snape hadn't said anything about that at all.

She did however give a short hum noise that Snape recognised as the one she made when she should be disagreeing with something, but deep down was content with it. "Well that is more than I expected to be honest." She said as she crossed her legs and leaned back in her chair. Her gaze was trained on the flickering fire next to them. She felt Snape's eyes on her and he knew that it was his way of asking what she had done. "All I have done is hex him when he left the grounds." That was rewarded with a tiny chuckle from her colleague. She looked up and shared a look of understanding; for now they had done enough.


	16. Chapter 16

**Chapter 16**

Ron walked into their dormitory later that night to find Harry having fallen asleep still dressed in his robes, but he couldn't find it in himself to wake his friend up. Even he had noticed that Harry was looking more tired by the day, which shouldn't be surprising as he had caught him having nightmares in the middle of the night. It had only been a few times, but he was a sound sleeper himself and had only woken up because of the load screams the raven haired boy emitted.

Every time that happened he had gotten up and asked him if he was alright, but every time he was shunned as Harry moved passed him to lock himself in their shared bathroom. After the first time it had become clear to him that Harry would only come out once he knew that Ron had gone back to bed. The morning after however would seem like any other morning, there wasn't a trace to be found of what had conspired that night; except maybe that he looked a little worse for wear.

So when Ron found him soundly sleeping in his bed he silently crept closer. He picked up the blanket, that was now mostly kicked from the bed, only the bottom part still covert Harry's feet, and he laid it over his friend. He was concerned, Harry had admitted that something was wrong but he couldn't for the life of him figure out what it was. Hermione and he had hoped that their friend would confine in them so Ron had been sent up to see if he was willing to talk, but it seemed like they would have to wait a little longer to get their answers.

The following morning came too early, but eventually Harry managed to drag himself out of bed and dress in a fresh uniform before leaving for breakfast. He already knew he was late but he felt no desire to speed up. Ron had woken him up when and he had told him he would get up in a minute, which turned out to be more like twenty minutes. He knew however where the kitchen was located so it didn't matter much if he missed breakfast in the great hall. It was of course just another way to avoid his classmates for a bit longer as he pulled his head together in an attempt to survive the rest of the day.

Lucky for him his first lesson was History of Magic with professor Binns, their ghost professor never paid any attention to attendees or whether anyone was actually listening to his stretched out monologue. So when he quietly walked into the classroom only a few heads turned his way, the rest of the class was most likely already asleep, before they too laid their heads back on their tables in order to doze off further. Only Hermione had previously been taking notes, but she was now turned around in her seat to throw Harry a look of disapproval. Quickly turning around again however to take another note, for which Harry was thankful. He didn't feel like getting one of her lousy lectures as he took the empty seat beside her.

The rest of the day went in much the same way until he reached the potions classroom for his detention. When he walked in he noticed that Draco was already there, but evidently had also walked in only a moment ago as he had not even had the chance to sit down or anything. When he turned his gaze to Snape he was not met with the same friendliness as Draco had given him when he walked in by smiling at him. No, Snape's face hadn't even the usual blackness covering it, but a clear annoyance was spread across his face. Not one that was simply there because he had to spend more time with his nitwit students, but something else was bothering his professor. And he had a grim feeling that he was the cause of it.

Mere seconds later he found out that his suspicion was true; as Snape turned his glare towards him. "Care to explain why you failed for a second time to make an appearance at the infirmary for your check-up?" Snape's sneer remarked sounded loud and dangerous through the almost empty classroom.

Harry had hoped to evade it but it seemed that his potions professor once again wasn't going to let him slip through, so he uttered a response that was even to his ears very weak.

"I'm sorry, I forgot. Uh… I'll go tomorrow." He sounded sheepish, but he didn't want to go; so he figured that he could try at least. But of course Snape wouldn't fall for that. A low chuckle followed before his professor strode his way. "No, we're going now." was all he said to Harry, but it was enough to get his anxiety level rising. With widened eyes he stared back at the tall man that had opened to door for them and expected him to follow through.

"Malfoy return to the common room, you're detention for tonight seems to be cancelled because of this…" He made a gesture towards Harry before finishing the sentence, "idiot." But the last part did not sound as venomous as any of them had expected.

"Yes sir" he answered, however before he left his eyes locked with Harry's and he could see the plea for help in them. "But may I accompany you?"

Snape raised his eyebrows in question as he had no idea why the blond would want to come along with them. He looked down at Potter and only then noticed that the boy was in some state of distress and looked a little hopeful at his godson.

"It's just to calm Harry's nerve, he might like it if he had a friend with him." Referring to himself as Harry's friend seemed so natural even if they had only been friends for a little over a week. And Snape was now the first person, besides the two of them, to know of their friendship, but he knew he could trust his godfather with this.

Snape narrowed his eyes as he inspected both boys, but Malfoy's statement appeared to be true. "Fine." At that he turned around and made his way toward the infirmary with both boys following him. He had only just caught the relieved smile Potter threw Malfoy before leading the way.

"Ah Mr. Potter, good of you to come." Madam Pomfrey greeted him as they walked into the infirmary, a welcoming smile crossed her face in an attempt to cover her concerned look. Confusion however struck her when not only Snape but also Malfoy followed through the entrance. "Mr. Malfoy is there a particular reason you are here, because I'll have to ask you to leave if you are alright." She turned her questioning look from the young blond to her colleague, but he held no desire to clear her confusion. To her surprise it was Harry who answered after nervously clearing his throat. "Uh… can he please stay?" he spoke softly.

She hesitated slightly, everyone at the school knew these two boys did not like each other, but apparently something had changed. It looked like they had gone from hating one another to now trusting and even caring, as was evident by the proximity of their bodies and the looks on their faces. "Alright," she said throwing them a last glance before turning around, "follow me please." and walking to the end of the infirmary.

She instructed Harry to lie down on the last bed and to just relax. She send the two Slytherins to her office and told them to wait there, when she returned to Harry she closed the curtains around the bed for privacy. "Now Harry, I want you to relax. I'm going to perform a diagnostic spell; this will show if you have any injuries now. I would also like to use another spell that will show any injuries you have obtained in the past and if any of them left scars."

At that last part Harry's body tensed up even more than he already was. He didn't want her to perform that last spell; he had been scared that she would want to do a spell like that, it was the whole reason he had avoided going in the first place.

Madam Pomfrey noticed the small increase in tension, but she hadn't expected anything less. Victims like Harry often found the thought of a spell that could show their past injuries and thus their past experiences uncomfortable. In a way it was a clarification that they had to face what had happened, and that was often scary. She continued talking in a soft and calm voice, in the hope that it would ease the boy's nerves.

"I will set the time from the beginning of the school year up to now, because it can sometimes take days or even weeks if it isn't bordered to a specific timeframe. That is because it will also register all the smaller injuries like papercuts." She stood next to the bed which Harry lay on, the tension in his body had only abated a little. "Harry I need you to lay perfectly still in a minute until both spells are done. Just try to relax." She instructed him before raising her wand and performing both spells.

Two parchments appeared on the bedside table to record the diagnosed injuries for both spells. One of the two parchments was quickly filling up, while the other was done within a few minutes only having recorded a few scratches and bruises. It took another ten minutes for the second parchment to be completely filled before a second one appeared on top of it and began to be filled up as well. After forty two minutes also the second spell was done.

At that moment Madam Pomfrey walked back in and told Harry he was allowed to move again. "Thank you Harry, you did well." She told him in reassurance. "I'll just take these and have a look at them," not surprised by the size of the second spell's diagnostics as she picked them up "I'll send professor Snape and Mr. Malfoy to you now so you can bid them good night. I think it is a good idea for you to spend the night here and then we will discuss the results further in the morning, if that is alright with you?" Harry nodded in answer, he didn't want to know what the results were exactly. So when Draco appeared beside his bed he welcomed the distraction with open arms.

The blond boy flopped down in the chair next to the bed and struck up a conversation about nothing in particular, he could sense Harry's need to be distracted. They talked easily, unlike when they had first become friends, it wasn't awkward anymore and they could easily read each other. Of course they had already been doing that since their first year, because it was so much easier to provoke someone if you could read them. They now however used that ability in a completely different way.

Snape saw how the boys interacted and he could see the difference it made for both of them. So against all his better judgement he told his godson that he could stay in the infirmary for the night if he wanted to. Both young faces lighted up with glee.

That is how they had their first sleepover; in the infirmary. They talked till late at night until Madam Pomfrey told them to go to sleep. Normally she wouldn't allow something like this but she believed that it helped to heal Harry, and Merlin knew he needed it.


	17. Chapter 17

**Chapter 17**

 _Harry was walking through corridor after corridor; he didn't know where he was or where he was going. He knew however that he needed to keep walking. Doors were situated in the dark grey walls, all looking exactly alike; painted a smooth, shiny black with a silver doorknob. None of them had a key hole, but despite that they couldn't be opened. He had tied multiple times, but no matter how hard he tried they wouldn't budge. So he kept on walking._

 _He was trapped in that endless corridor looking for that one door that would let him through. After what seemed like forever he stopped in front of a door, it was different from all the others in that it was made of a dark wood, unpainted and heavily scarred. The scarring couldn't be seen from further away but the closer you got the clearer it was present. There were many little cuts all over the wood, but the number increased dramatically around the silver doorknob. It didn't bode well but it was the only way out of an endless maze of corridors so he reached out._

 _As soon as his hand came in touch with the silver everything around him changed and he was situated in a room. It was approximately the size of a classroom, but all furniture had been taken out; it was completely stripped of anything and everything. There were no windows in the dull grey walls and the only door was the one he came through, which looked exactly the same from this side as the other side. What caught his eye however was no longer the door but the big mirror positioned on the other side of the room._

 _He knew this mirror, he had seen it before. The first time he had accidentally stumbled upon it while wandering the halls of the castle. It had shown him his parents, they had been standing right behind him and they were happy. He didn't know what Dumbledore had done with it after he had found it again at the end of last year, hidden away to protect the philosopher's stone. But the desire to see his parents again was too big to resist, so he slowly edged closer until he once more stood right in front of it._

 _James and Lily Potter appeared in the mirror again, they looked the same as they had the last time he saw them there. They were smiling and his mother even laid a hand on his shoulder, however when he tried to grab it it was actually there. He turned around in surprise and they were there, they were actually there! In flesh and blood and he was able to touch them. He was so happy and they looked happy! It was perfect until their expressions changed and they were looking at him in disgust. Lily even turned her head away from him and his father was penetrating him with a fierce gaze that didn't only bare disgust but also repulsion and hate. The change in his parents was nauseating. But their gazes weren't only thrown at him but also at something behind him. Or someone, he realised as a hand slipped on his shoulders and forced him to turn around, away from his parents._

 _Fear gripped at him as he looked up at the man that had grasped his shoulder so tightly. He would recognise that gold blond hair and that charming smile anywhere. Horror forced his way on him as he tucked free from the hand on his shoulder and he ran. He ran as fast as he could to the other side of the room to the only door, to the only possible way to escape. But the room was larger now, where it had seemed big before it was now gigantic, stretching on and on until the door was only a dot on the horizon. No matter how fast he ran, he couldn't seem to get closer. He looked around to see if someone could help him, to look for his parents, but to his horror hey had disappeared. He was all alone and Lockhart had no trouble catching up with him._

 _Hands grabbed at him. They were everywhere, grabbing at his arms, waist and shoulders. He tried desperately to get away from them, but the hands were too strong and he had nowhere run. He screamed as loud as he could in the hope someone, somewhere could hear him._

 _And at once he was in front of the door that had looked like it was miles away. He tried to pull it open, but nothing happened. In desperation he started scratching at the door where small cuts appeared at the places his nails ripped away small pieces of wood. The same hands as before ripped him away from it and pulled him towards a body much larger and stronger than his._

 _Two hands now grabbed his shoulders and were shaking him. They were different from before however, smaller somehow. A faint voice was ringing through the room, he knew that voice. It was telling him to wake up. Why was it telling him to wake up?_

He blinked his eyes and when he opened them again the scenery had changed once more, but two hands still had a hold on his shoulders and someone was standing over him. Very close to him, way too close! Panic seized him and he flinched away. Jumping out of the bed he had been in and very fast making his way to the door closed to him, which to no surprise was the bathroom. He quickly locked the door, turned around and moved away from it until his back hit a cold, stone wall.

Panic was taking over and his breath came in short. He realised that he wasn't wearing his glasses, but even so his vision was more blurred than it should have been without them. He slid down along the wall, pulling his knees to his chest and resting his head on his knees. He desperately tried to take control of his breath and slow it down, he needed to calm down. He was fine, nothing happened, it was just a nightmare he tried to tell himself.

A soft knock stirred him from his thoughts. "Harry," Draco's soft voice started concerned " are you alright?" A long silence followed. He needed to get his throat to relax, because it felt unnaturally tight and it also didn't help with his breathing. Either way he didn't want to talk to the blond now.

"Harry, please answer me." Draco whispered again. "Are you alright?" Another silence filled the air, until Harry found his voice again. "Yeah," He cuffed to clear his throat a little as he sounded a little hoarse. "I'm fine, just… go back to bed."

"No, I'm not leaving you there on your own." Draco told him, it was clear that Harry wasn't fine and he wouldn't leave him after the nightmare he had had. He didn't know what it had been about, but he could guess and looking at Harry's reaction it had been very bad. He had been heavily twisting in his bed, whimpering and even screaming near the end. It was bad enough to have woken him up and when he realised what was going on he ran over to his friend tried to wake him up. He had been calling him and shaking his shoulders until he was finally awake. He didn't necessarily need to know what the nightmare was about but he did want to be sure Harry was okay.

"Can you open the door?" He asked Harry, it is a lot easier to talk if there was no door between them.

"Just… leave me alone." Harry insisted. He heard some ruffling noises right outside the door, which concerned him a little. What was Draco doing?

"I'm going to sit here until you come out of there." He was putting his foot down, his mind was made up and there was no way he was going to change it; even if that meant he had to sit on the hard floor outside the bathroom.

This surprised Harry. Ron, at first, had also insisted him to come out, but he would eventually budge in favour of sleeping, especially since Harry was so determined. But Draco put out no signal that he was ever even going to move from his spot he had so purposefully manifested. What was he supposed to do now, he didn't want to come out, he didn't want Draco or anyone to see him like this.

"So… are you going to make this a long night for the both of us?" Draco tried to prod him, but Harry wasn't one to shrink down easily when his mind was made up either. Luckily he had been able to calm himself somewhat.

"If you keep sitting out there, then yes I am." He replied more strongly than before.

"Alright. Did I ever tell you the story of how I accidentally painted our living room when I was six?" When he didn't get a response, he took that as a sign to continue. He started telling Harry about how he had been painting and his parents had left him alone in the room. How he got overexcited and had accidentally gotten a smudge of bright orange paint on their grey wall. He knew his parents wouldn't be happy if they saw it so he had tried to get it off, but it seemed like the more he tried the bigger the spot got. He had panicked because he was scared that his parents were going to be mad. That was the moment his accidental magic had kicked in, but instead of making the stain disappear it changed the whole wall to a very bright orange. This didn't fit at all with the carefully designed classy interior of the rest of the room. So of course he had to do something about that and once more his accidental magic had pitched in, and coloured everything else in the room very bright. He had been standing in a room he barely recognised as everything had been orange, pink, blue, green and red. It was very gay and that was also how he had been feeling when he saw all of it. He liked it so much he had started jumping around and laughing loudly. Until his parents had walked back in.

Draco described the horrified look they had sported and the very innocent, sheepish one he had worn. He could hear a small giggle coming from the other side of the door, during his story he had already heard Harry crawl and sit down next to the door so he could hear the story more clearly. He hadn't commented on it, but he was happy that Harry felt at least a little better; which had also been part of the reason he had started telling the story in the first place, besides distracting him.

"Did you get in trouble?" Harry whispered softly, he didn't even want to imagine how much trouble he would have been in if something like that had happened to him.

"No, it was accidental so they knew I couldn't do anything about it. Although my father was quite annoyed, but my mother laughed about it after the initial shock had worn off. Either way they had it turned back in no time."

Dead air hung between them, until Draco started telling Harry more stories about his past. It made Harry feel safe. Draco did ask again if he was alright, he didn't ask if he was coming out; instead he was patient and tried to distract him from the horrors of his nightmare.

It was nearly two hours after they had initially sat down before Harry was ready to open the door. He had calmed down completely, but had been enjoying the conversation with his friend too much to disrupt it. It was really nice, and never had anyone done something so nice for him before. He simply didn't want it to end, but he knew that they couldn't sit there like that forever. So in the end he mustered up his courage and faced the blond again.

He did feel nervous when he stood in front if the door and opened the lock, but all of his insecurities slipped away when the door opened and Draco stood on the other side giving him a small smile which he returned without hesitation.

Draco reached out his hand to prop Harry from the secluded space he was in, but he left it suspended in the air. He didn't want to push his friend and he had noticed that he didn't like physical contact and sometimes flinched when touched. He was glad when Harry barely hesitated to grab it tightly in his own hand. The moment they had a tight hold on one another he turned around and tucked the dark haired boy after him to their bed.

"We should probably get back to bed." Draco suggested feeling tired since it after all was the middle of the night.

"We could do that," Harry started a clear mischievous sparkle in his eyes "or… we could go for a midnight snack." A playful smile spread over his face. He wasn't feeling tired at all.

Draco raised his eyebrows, he had not expected to hear that from the other boy; but that didn't mean he wasn't intrigued. He quickly took over the smile Harry was sporting.

"Okay let's go!" He pulled Harry along after him through the doors of the infirmary into the halls, he stopped however when he realised that he didn't know where exactly they were going.

"So where are we going to get a midnight snack?"

"The kitchen of course, where else?" Harry replied while pulling Draco further down the stairs.

"You know where the kitchens are? And are they even open now?"

"Yeah, but it will be empty, because even house elves need sleep. They usually don't start working until about seven in the morning."

"How do you know that?" Astonishment painted Draco's voice.

"I've just… been wandering around sometimes." He said sheepishly, rubbing the back of his neck with his free hand.

They rounded the last corner and stopped in front of a painting of a fruit bowl. Harry reached out and tickled the pear, which squirmed, giggled and then transformed into a doorknob. He pushed the door open and led Draco into an enormous, high-ceilinged room with mounds of glittering brass pots and pans heaped around the stone walls, and a great brick fireplace at the other end. Light filled the room from the moment they stepped through the door, and Draco looked around in amazement, he had never been in here before.

Harry led Draco to the fireplace and pushed him down in one of the seats before he turned around and got the fire blazing. After that he headed further into the kitchen and started roaming the cupboards and gathering the ingredients he needed.

"What are you doing?" Draco questioned.

"I'm just making tea and sandwiches, or do you want something else?"

"Isn't that the job of the house elves?"

"Yeah they won't let you do it yourself during the day, but it's night and I'm not going to wake them up because I'm hungry." He simply stated. "Either way I kind of like it, I guess it's quite relaxing in a way." He shrugged his shoulders and brought their food and drinks over to the fireplace and settled down in the chair next to the blond.

Draco took a bite from his sandwich, which tasted a lot better than he had expected; not that he doubted his friend's skills, but he hadn't thought Harry would have much experience in the kitchen. However the taste of the sandwich told him otherwise. "This is delicious! So I'm guessing you have done this before?"

"Yes, I used to cook breakfast and dinner at my aunt and uncles house so I know my way around the kitchen." He said nonchalantly taking a bite of his own food.

Draco turned to his friend in astonishment, but he didn't comment. He knew that Harry didn't like to talk about his family, and he gave off clear signs that he didn't want Draco to ask any more questions about it. So he dropped it. They spent the next few moments in silence as they enjoyed their sandwiches and tea.

Harry once again surprised him when he broke the silence. "Thank you." was all he whispered, his gaze locked on the fire.

"What for?" Draco had a suspicion of what Harry was talking about, but he wanted the other boy to say it.

After a little contemplation the black haired boy answered him, turning his big green eyes towards him in an attempt to convey his sincerity. "You know, tonight. Helping me get through that nightmare, staying up with me and everything." It was nothing more than a whisper but his voice was clear. They locked eyes as grey met green and a small smile crossed Draco's lips.

"You're welcome."


	18. Chapter 18

**Chapter 18**

They had stayed up talking for another hour before they decided it was time to go back to bed. They got up from their lazy chairs and walked side by side back to the infirmary. They opened the door silently, slipped into the room and crossed over to their bed. When Draco turned around to climb into his bed he was stopped by a soft whisper of his name. He turned back to Harry who was looking at the ground and rubbing his left arm in uncertainty, he didn't want to push him so he waited in patience for Harry to say whatever it was that he wanted to say.

"Never mind." Harry said and made a move towards his bed, but he was stopped when Draco grabbed his arm and spun his slightly towards him.

"No, what is it?" Draco tried to catch the other boy's eyes in an attempt to discover what was going on inside his head, but his gaze was dodged. Harry was biting his lip and it was clear that he was very anxious about what he wanted to say, which confused Draco. They had been talking all night, shared secrets they had never even told anyone else (even if they were only small), what could possible cause the doubt his friend had now?

"Can I…" he swallowed the lump in his throat before murmuring almost inaudible "can I h-have a hug?"

Surprise paralysed him for a moment, but when his body and mind both caught up on the request they just heard he stepped forward and wrapped his arms around the skinny boy.

After asking Draco to hug him, Harry could have cursed himself. He sounded so week and pathetic! It was so stupid to ask that, why would the blond ever want to hug him? Yeah they had hold hands, but hugging was on a whole other level of physical contact; one that friends did not often enter. Or anyone with him for that matter, besides the hugs he had gotten from Mrs. Weasley in the summer the only other person to have ever hugged him was Lockhart. He had liked the hug Mrs. Weasley had given, although somewhat uncomfortable, it had still been very enjoyable and comforting. Even the hugs Lockhart had given him where nice; they had started out a little uncomfortable as well but had quickly turned into a form of comfort. He had longed for those hugs, Lockhart would sometimes even let him hug him for over five minutes and they would just sit there.

But the last few times when he had met up with the professor he was shunned, when he had initiated it Lockhart had pushed him away and told him that he didn't have time for that or that Harry didn't deserve it. And now Lockhart was gone and he was somewhat happy about that, but he desperately missed those hugs and being carelessly touched as a sign that told him he was loved.

But when two arms wrapped around him, all of that, all of his worries ebbed away and a small weight was lifted off his shoulders. His own arms moved around Draco's waist and his hands grabbed at the back of the blonde's shirt because he never wanted to let go. He felt safe, more secure than he had ever felt before for he knew Draco wouldn't ask anything in return, he wouldn't judge him and he would never hurt him. He rested his head on the taller boy's shoulder and just enjoyed the feel of the very snug hug they were in.

"Okay boys, get up." They were woken the next day by Madam Pomfrey. Five minutes later they were woken up a second time, because both of them had fallen asleep once more. They had had a long night and they felt that now. Draco was the first to be able to drag himself out of bed and he helped Harry get out of his by tugging at his arm till he rolled out of bed. They dressed slowly and had some breakfast that a house elf brought to them. Once they were done Madam Pomfrey walked out of her office and asked Harry to join her, telling Draco to go to class. The boy reluctantly left, he would have liked to stay with Harry to support him, but it was clear that he was in no way allowed.

They settled down in the office attached to the infirmary. Madam Pomfrey on one side of her desk, Harry on the other. The older lady took out the results from the spells she had performed the previous evening. She looked through the parchments again quickly before looking up at him again. "Harry, I look at the results from last night," She started patiently. Harry looked down at his hands which were fumbling; he didn't want to have this conversation. "As far as I can see you do not have any injuries at the moment, which is good. But in the past half year you have been hurt more than most teens your age. Of course some of these are from quidditch and other smaller things. But there are a few that do concern me however."

Harry crawled back further into his chair. "Harry, I need to know how you got these injuries." Harry knew he couldn't avoid talking about it any longer, they already knew the truth. But that didn't make it any easier. He could do this he told himself, he just needed to not feel. He had done that before at the Dursleys, he could not feel, it made everything a lot easier. And that's what he did, while she asked him questions.

He answered all of them in the same distant, matter-of-fact voice. When they had discussed the when, what and how's Madam Pomfrey wanted to continue with how he felt about it all; but he couldn't do that. He didn't want to feel anything.

"I know it is hard to talk about this, and if you don't want to talk now you don't have to. But I do think it is good to eventually confide in someone, and that doesn't have to be me. There are people who are specialised in this and can help you through this. Do you want me to set up a meeting with someone?"

Harry shook his head. "Okay, but I want you to know that when you're ready, you can come to me." She gave Harry a warm little smile. What she didn't say however was that they were going to keep a close eye on him and if he showed any sign of his state of mind getting worse, the choice to see someone was no longer going to be a choice. Cases like this always were sensitive and it was not good to either push victims too hard or let them go loose too much. So it was best to just watch, and from what she had seen so far, he was going to be alright. Draco appeared to help him a lot and from what she had seen last year his other friends would stand by him once he told them.

"I think it might be a good idea to tell your friends what's going, I'm positive they will help you in any way they can. Do you want anyone to help you with that?"

Harry shook his head again.

"Alright. I will inform your head of house and the headmaster of what we discussed today. The rest of your teacher will also be informed of your situation, but they will not be told the details only what is necessary for them to know."

Harry nodded, anything to get out of this office as fast as possible. He had been able to keep his feelings in, but they were slipping through the cracks. At the Dursleys he had quickly learned to hide away his feelings, even from himself, but from the moment he started at Hogwarts and made friends he had been slipping up and now he had trouble to keep it all in.

"Do you have any questions or anything you want to talk about?"

Harry shook his head again.

"Then I think we're done for now. If there is anything then you know where to find me."

Harry nodded and took his leave as fast as possible. He ran and ran until he could go no further, he slammed into a door and locked it. He slid down the wall of the white tilled bathroom situated in a far off corridor. He couldn't, he just couldn't, so he let it all out. Tears streamed down his face. Why was this so hard now? He had already gone through all the bad, it was supposed to get better now!

But then why was he feeling like this? Why did he feel so sad, so lonely and confused? He had been alone before Hogwarts and he had felt lonely then too sometimes, but he had friends now, he wasn't alone. He had Draco and Ron and Hermione. But his Gryffindor friends felt so out of reach, like they were on a completely different planet. He needed to tell them the truth, but that thought scared him. He could lose them. What if they didn't want to be friends with him anymore? He felt so frustrated! So he screamed, he just needed to let it all out!

A knock on the door interrupted his stream of thoughts. "Harry, are you in there?"

A silent pause. "It's me, Draco." That last part wasn't needed, Harry would recognise that voice anywhere. He stood up. Draco already accepted him, he wouldn't turn away from him, he could trust the blond. He told himself and it was true, because no one had done what the other boy had done for him last night. So he opened the door and looked up at the concerned grey eyes staring at him, and then he felt two secure arms wrap around him in a tight embrace. It was exactly what he needed.


	19. Chapter 19

**Chapter 19**

When Draco left that morning he went straight to his dormitory to pick up his books for class, although he knew he wasn't going to be able to concentrate. He figured that he could go to his first class any way because Harry probably wouldn't be done within that hour. So he walked down the hall towards his class and sat down next to his friends, who started firing questions his way before he had even opened his books. But he ignored them, evaded their questions. The hour passed slowly, but the moment they were released he ran up the stairs leaving his friends behind.

He started up the last flight of stairs when he saw someone run up the next flight of stairs, their cloaks billowing behind them. No one else was around, because these halls were not leading to any classrooms. It was probably designed that way to keep it quiet around the infirmary. So he knew that it had to have been Harry.

He sped up and raced after him, more flights up and through hallways, but in the end he lost him. So he slowed down and walked around, checking in empty rooms and alcoves. _Damn it_ he cursed when he turned around another corner in his search for Harry. And that is when he heard it. The scream, it was unmistakable for not being anyone else's and it was without a doubt filled with pain. He ran all the way down the hall until he found the source and he knocked.

Eventually Harry opened up the door and he felt a stab of pain go through his body at the sight of his friend. His cheeks were tearstained and his eyes all puffy and red, his hair and clothes were a mess and all together it screamed of misery and torment. Two long strides brought him right in front of the black haired boy and he wrapped his arms firmly around him. Protecting him from his tormentors.

It took Harry a moment to be able to relax a little in the other's arms, but once he did he pressed his head into Draco's shoulder and broke down. He had never cried in front of anyone, but he was unable to keep it in and he needed Draco. A hand rubbed his back and a soft voice was telling him that everything was going to be okay, _he_ was going to be okay, he was safe. Nobody had ever held him when he cried, the most he got was a scowl and a hit over his head. He had seen others being comforted like this, Dudley and other children at school and at the Weasleys, but he had never understood until now. He hadn't known how comforting this was and how safe it made you feel, and he didn't want to let go of this ever.

Eventually his sobs died down and he stepped back, using his sleeve to wipe his nose and eyes. He gave Draco a small smile which was returned easily. "So I take it that the conversation with Madam Pomfrey didn't go that well?" Draco asked him.

"No, it went alright." He shrugged. "She said I would be fine…" He answered softly and a little distracted.

"What else did she say?" The taller boy asked before quickly adding "It's okay if you don't want to talk about it."

"No, it's alright. She just asked some things about what Lockhart did and..." He coughed softly. "They apparently need it if I ever want to press charges against him."

They had moved out of the bathroom and started down the corridor which was devoid of other students because it was far off and no classes were thought around here. Harry kept his vision straight ahead of him.

"Are you?"

Harry turned this thought over in his head. "No. They said it would be nearly impossible to keep it from becoming public knowledge, especially with the whole Boy-Who-Lived thing. Though she did mention something about not having to worry about Lockhart being punished." He shrugged.

Draco had an idea of what Harry was talking about; he knew his godfather wouldn't let someone like Lockhart go unpunished. He would definitely need to ask him about that the next time. But that wasn't the important thing right now, Harry was. He nodded his head in confirmation, but decided that wasn't going to argue Harry over this, he would rather know what else had happened during the meeting.

"What else did she say?" He saw that Harry had more trouble answering now.

"That they are going to tell all our teachers and that I have to tell Ron and Hermione." He swallowed the lump from his throat.

"Oh" Was all he could say, he knew Harry didn't like to talk about it and he could only imagine how nervous he was about telling his other friends. "Do you want me to help with that?" He didn't know how he could really help, as he was fairly sure that they would kill him before actually listening to him or at least Weasley would. But he wanted to offer anyway.

Harry nodded. He was clearly deep in thought thinking about this. "Would you?"

"Of course, what do you want me to do?"

"Uhh…" Harry started; it was weird to ask something from others. The Dursleys had scolded him for asking things from them, but Draco was offering now so he figured it would be alright to ask. "Could you just be there when I tell them? I don't know, I think it would help if you were there."

"Sure, but I don't know how you think they'll react when they see me…"

"Oh you can just use my invisibility cloak, they won't know you're there. Pretty sure they would kill you if they knew you were." He chuckled picturing the reaction his friends would have.

Draco however stopped in his tracks with his eyes wide in disbelieve. "Wait, you have an invisibility cloak?!" He nearly shouted and Harry turned back to him and nodded. "Merlin" He whispered, his thoughts were going a million miles an hour. And then it hit him and he turned his whole body to Harry looking him straight in the eye.

"I knew it! I knew there was no way you were sneaking around the castle that easily without any help! I knew it!" He grinned widely. His excitement infected Harry who started to laugh.


	20. Chapter 20

**Chapter 20**

Harry and Draco already missed most of second period so they decided to skip it all together. Harry however needed to go back to his dormitory to shower, change his clothes and get his books and so they parted ways. They had decided that it would be useless to try and meet up later that day because they both had classes and first Draco would have quidditch practise and Harry's team had practice after that. They would see each other tomorrow anyway at detention.

Furthermore Harry had decided to talk to Ron and Hermione on Thursday evening when none of them had anything else to do. It would be perfect because Draco could help him prepare a little the day before and hopefully calm his nerves a little.

Unfortunately time passed extremely fast when you wanted it to slow down, and Thursday night came all too soon for Harry. He had already told Ron and Hermione that morning that he wanted to talk to them, so he couldn't back down now. Not that Draco would let him. Draco who was hidden underneath the invisibility cloak he had given him, waiting in an empty classroom for the other three to join him.

It was nearly half an hour after dinner had finished when Harry assembled his courage and asked his friends to follow him. They walked in silence until they reached the designated classroom and it wasn't until the door had closed before the quiet was broken.

"So… what are we doing here?" Ran asked bluntly which earned him a warning look from his bushy haired friend.

"There is something I need to tell you and I didn't want to be overheard." Harry said looking around in search of what to do next and of course his invisible support. He really hoped Draco had shown up, because he wasn't sure if he could do this. He was really doubting everything at the moment, but most of all he was scared of how his friends would react when they found out his secret.

"Alright, why don't we sit down first and then you can tell us okay?" Hermione said in her comforting tone. She suspected that whatever it was that Harry was going to tell them wasn't anything good. Her friend had been acting strange lately, he had been on edge and tense and he looked a right mess. He had dark circles under his eyes and he always seemed to be distracted by one thing or the other.

They settled down in a few chairs in the front of the classroom, Harry moved his chair a little further away from the other two and pulled his feet up on the chair so he could hide his face behind his knees a little. He had rehearsed a little what he was going to say with Draco the day before, but his seemed blank and he had no idea where to start or what to say. So an icy silence filled the room. Besides searching for the right words he was also trying to calm his nerves, taking deep breathes and clenching and unclenching his fists.

Ron started to feel the uncomfortable silence and cleared his throat and was on the verge of saying something but a glance from Hermione shut him straight up.

Draco noticed how much trouble Harry had with this so he softly edged closer until he was standing right behind him. He reached out his hand and brushed his back to let him know he was there. He could physically feel Harry relax a little while he touched his back. He wanted to speak encouraging words to his friend but it was way too quiet in the room and any sound he made could be heard by the others, so all he really could do was stand there and hope his mere presence was enough support for the raven haired boy.

A light weight lifted off Harry's shoulders when he felt the blonde's presence behind him. It was exactly what he needed. He moved his hand behind his back and Draco grabbed it and squeezed it reassuringly and he squeezed back. He turned his thought back to the friends in front of him, he took a deep breath and he started talking.

He talked about Lockhart had done and what had been happening in the last few days; the meeting with Snape and finally explaining to them why he had been in the man's private quarters, and the examination with Madam Pomfrey not two days previous.

The whole time he was talking he didn't look up once, he just droned on in a distant voice stopping now and then to focus on the anchoring feeling Draco produced by holding his hand trough out it all. And once he finished he finally let the breath escape that he hadn't realise he had been holding. A long silence followed and he could feel the two pairs of eyes bore through him and in the end he dare a glance their way.

Their expressions differed a lot. Ron looked angry, but not in the way he would look when that emotion was caused by Malfoy. No he looked truly furious, like he could jump up any moment and yell at someone and even beat them up until they would be unable to walk for weeks. It scared him, he had seen that anger before and usually that was directed his way and it never ended well when someone looked like that. But the worst part was that he had no idea who that anger was directed to.

And on the other hand there was Hermione who was crying softly, holding one hand over her heart and using the other to wipe away her tears with a handkerchief. He wasn't completely sure why she was crying, she wasn't hurt or anything. But she seemed to get herself together and even the wetness in her eyes disappeared. She stood up and made her way over to him, kneeling at his side and offering her hand for him to hold. He looked at it and with a little encouraging from Draco he grabbed hold of her hand too.

"Thank you for telling us that, Harry." She said, a small encouraging smile crossed her lips. "I know that must have been hard, but you know that we are always here for you right?" Relief washed over him, he had been hoping that his friends would still want to be just that, friends. And now he knew that at least Hermione wasn't going to turn away from him.

He felt Draco squeeze his hand again before letting go, he stood up and so did Hermione and they threw their arms around each other in a brief hug. "Thank you." He whispered before letting go.

The next moment an uncomfortable silence filled the room again, Ron hadn't reacted yet, he hadn't even moved from his place. But his anger was flaring and his magic could be felt in the air, his fist clenched tightly at his side. He was deep in thought and hadn't really noticed what was happening around him. And now all eyes were trained on him, awaiting his reaction. Hermione cautiously saying his name woke him from his thoughts and he jumped up kicking over his chair with a loud bang, which was enough to scare Harry who took a few steps back. Hermione moved protectively in front of him.

"Fuck. Merlin!" The redhead cursed moving a hand through his hair. "Ron!" Hermione yelled at him sternly. This caused him to turn around and face the other boy, rage radiating through the room. Harry was paralysed with fear, he was sure that Ron was going to yell at him and beating him for being so weak. His whole body was shaking again, the only thing to ground him where Hermione's protective stance and Draco's presence right behind him. But the words out of Ron's mouth surprised him.

"Where the fuck is that bastard? Merlin! Fuck, I'll kill him!" He shoved another table and another loud bang ran through the room. He was so caught up in his rampage that he hadn't noticed the reactions of his friends.

"Ron! Calm down!" Hermione yelled at him and it made him turn towards them again. "Ron, you're scaring him… us." She said more softly but still very stern and her eyes penetrated his in an attempt to make him understand. That last statement finally hit home for him and his eyes widened as he looked at Harry. He had never seen those big green eyes look so afraid and a pain stabbed through as he realised that it was his fault. His guilt completely overtook his anger and he wished to never see his friend look like that again, especially not because of him.

"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to scare you, I'm just mad at him for hurting you…" Ron rambled on, but Harry seemed unable to move, no longer because he was afraid, but because he was perplexed. He finally realised why Ron was so mad, it wasn't because he thought Harry was being stupid but because someone had hurt him. He was mad for him, not at him. All his doubt and fears ebbed away and were replaced with a tiny smile as he realised that he couldn't have picked better friends.


	21. Chapter 21

**An** I so sorry this took so long again, it's a lot harder to update from here. I hope you enjoy this new chapter!

 **Chapter 21**

The conversation with Ron and Hermione had gone much better than he had expected. After Ron was done yelling and Hermione less than subtlety had told him that his anger was useless and he needed to be supportive instead. Ran had awkwardly patted him on the back, he really had no idea how to deal with a situation like this, luckily for him neither did Harry. So they just smiled at each other and Harry knew Ron would have his back no matter what.

After all the sadness Ron decided Harry needed to be distracted, have some fun. So they left the classroom, Ron first, followed by Harry and Hermione. However while the first two started down the stairs Hermione lingered behind a little. She looked into the empty room, feeling a little stupid for her next words, but she was fairly sure that someone was still there. "Thank you." She said sincerely and closed the door, turned around and followed her friends down the stairs not realising that she had left an astound Draco Malfoy behind.

Draco had no idea how Hermione knew he was there, he had thought that the cloak had covered him the whole time. Apparently he had slipped up at some point and part of his shoe or something must have stuck out from under the invisibility cloak. Either way she had not been able to see his face so she wouldn't have known who he was. He was pretty sure that if she had known his identity she would have done something completely different than thank him.

Ron's idea of distraction and fun evidently consisted of food and games, as there first stop was at the kitchens where they picked up some pastries before heading back to the Gryffindor tower to play a few games of exploding snap. But the redhead for once really seemed to know what he was doing, because Harry was very hungry after not eating anything at dinner as he had been extremely nervous about the conversation and the game they played drove the other thoughts to the back of his head especially when more people joined in.

The rest of the week was different from the ones before. Harry tried to put the past behind him and go to his classes like normal. He tried hard to focus on his studies, but more often than not he seemed to be distracted. His thoughts would drift off and it often would take a nudge from his friends to bring him back to the present.

It was most difficult to concentrate during the Defence Against the Dark Arts classes. Dumbledore had taken over teaching the lower grades, but they still used the same classroom as everything they needed was still in there. And that was exactly the problem for Harry. So much had happened in that classroom and he couldn't just forget about it it seemed. Every time he was in there something spiked a memory, a touch, a word or some thing.

His friends of course noticed this and they tried to help him with getting him to focus on his work, but also with everything he missed in class. It became more usual for Hermione, Ron and him to study together, and it was probably the only reason he wasn't slacking all his classes. Besides that it was also really nice that they were spending more time together again. He realised that he had been pushing his friends away before, but now that they knew, the gap between them seemed to have closed almost completely.

And then there was Draco. They saw each other in detention, but even after that they secretly met up. Harry would use his invisibility cloak to get down to the dungeon where he would pick up Draco and together they would roam the halls of Hogwarts. But most of all they had fun, they talked, visited the kitchens and played chess. Harry had mentioned that he always lot to Ron, so Draco had made it his personal mission to teach Harry how to play the game so he could beat the redhead.

And that is how the next two weeks went by. Nothing too exiting happened and that was fine by Harry, because he could really use that quiet normalcy right now. Unfortunately it didn't last very long, because when they walked into their Defence lesson nearly three weeks after Lockhart had been fires a stranger stood at the front of the classroom. Dumbledore wasn't there, although now that Harry thought about it he had said something about a new professor, but he hadn't really heard anything else the headmaster had been saying as his mind had drifted off once more.

They settled down in their usual seats and they took out there books. Hermione, being who she is, sat quietly because she had seen their new professor waiting for the class to shut up. He followed her lead although he was more reluctant on the active listening stance. He didn't want to catch the attention from their new teacher, he'd much rather disappear. So he settled for hunching down and staring at his book.

When their new teacher started talking however everyone fell quiet. The man was very relaxed and his voice was clear and something soft edged it. He leant against his desk as he spoke. "Good morning class, I am professor Lupin and I'll be teaching you this class for the rest of the school year. First of all we're going to start with the list of names. If you could just put up your hand when I call your name." He started calling out names of both Gryffindors and Slytherins and it all went very smoothly until he arrived at Harry's name.

The room was silent and their new professor took longer to read the next name on the list. Lupin shook his head in an attempt to discard his thoughts as he read the next name out loud. "Harry Potter" Harry swallowed the lump in his throat and raised his hand. Why did people always have to be so weird when they found out he was _The Harry Potter_ , he wasn't anything special so why couldn't they just treat him like a normal person. He didn't want any extra attention, especially not from this guy, their new DADA professor.

He looked up from his thoughts and Lupin was looking straight back at him, giving him a small smile when their eyes locked for a second. Everything stopped for a second. The silence around him became noticeable and the only thing he could hear was the thundering of his heart. He lowered his arm and diverted his eyes back down, but his eyes weren't focussed anymore and his hands started to shake. In the background he could hear Lupin going on with the names, but he couldn't make out any of them as it all sounded like a blur, like he was underwater.

He tried to take deep breaths and tell himself he was fine, that he had just imagined it, the smile that looked so much like Lockhart's. But at the same time they were completely different, not that it mattered because all Harry could see now was Lockhart standing in front of the class and giving Harry that intense look he had given him so often before.

He tried desperately to grasp some breath but it felt like someone was crushing his throat, choking him. Hands were grabbing his arm and pushing at his back, and then they were everywhere; stroking his cheek and grapping his hips. He tried to fight them off, but they were too strong.

He had completely missed how Hermione had noticed his change in behaviour and when he hadn't reacted to her asking him if he was alright she had jumped up, given Ron a look that said 'it's bad, help me get him out of here' and together they had dragged their friend out of the room. Ron had at last realised that they weren't supposed to just leave like that normally, so he turned around and told Lupin that Harry wasn't feeling well and walked out into the hall closing the door with a slight bang.


	22. Chapter 22

**An:** finally a new chapter for you guys! I know they are coming very irregular, but I'm stil traveling and it's hard to update away from home. But good news for you I'm gone for obly three more weeks and I still have one more chapter ready. After that updates will be more regular and frequent.

Also I want to thank everyone for reviewing, I love reading your comments and they are greatly apreciated!

I hope enjoy reading this new chapter, and let me know what you think.

 **Chapter 22**

 _(Lupin pov)_

It was his first day of teaching and if he was being honest he was pretty nervous. Dumbledore had contacted him only a few days before and he decided only the day before that he would take up the offer. He had spend all day packing his stuff and moved into the castle late last night. He had been really tired but he wanted to have a look at what he would have to teach the next day, so he had contacted Dumbledore, only to find out that the previous teacher had left nothing behind and he would have to ask all his classes where they were. It didn't sit well with him that he was so unprepared, but it would have to do for now.

He had made a move to stand up, but the headmaster asked him if he could stay and talk for a little longer. He had asked if it was anything important or if it could wait until the next day because he was exhausted. Luckily Dumbledore told him that it could wait one more and he made his way back, straight to bed.

He had woken up only just in time to make it to his first class before any of his students were there, unfortunately without any food. So he taught the first two lessons on an empty stomach and still feeling a little drained from the full moon only two days ago. Remarkable, that's how he would describe his first few lessons, especially considering everything. But then again he had had first years and seventh years, and they were the easiest bunch. First years were too scared and shy to make a fuss about anything and they almost always listened. Seventh years on the other hand were very focussed on their N.E.W.T-s and thus good listeners and only asked relevant questions; besides that they were already past the annoying puberty phase and therefore easier to handle.

He managed to get a quick bit before his second years arrived and he would need that extra strength as it was Gryffindors and Slytherins, what he remembered from his time at Hogwarts that combination had been most horrid.

He hadn't however realised that Harry would be in this class, so when he saw the boy's name on the list he did a double check. He hadn't seen the little fellow for more than eleven years and it brought back all kind of memories, not only of him but also of James and Lily. He called his name and a small boy on the second row of the left side of the room raised his hand. He looked at him and they locked eyes for a second. He looked so much like James, except for the eyes; he had Lily's eyes. He looked back at his list again and went on with the names before he got caught up in his memories.

He was reading the next name out loud when he was interrupted by chairs scraping the floor and three people stumbling and rushing out of the room. To his shock Harry was one of them and he looked a lot paler than he had a moment ago; something was clearly wrong with him. Al he really wanted to do was rush after them and find out if he was alright, but he had responsibilities as well.

So he turned to a dark haired girl in the front of the room and asked her what the last thing they read in the book was, which she obediently answered. He thanked her and turned back to address the whole room. "Alright why don't you start reading at page 176, and if anyone makes a noise I will subtract house points." His voice was strict. "I'll be back in a minute." He said as he walked out the door into the hallway.

He was glad that Harry and his friends (?) were still there and hadn't just ran off, but at a second take of the situation concern gripped at his heart. The little black haired boy was curled of the ground, head buried in his knees and shaking heavily all over. He strode over quickly and knelt down next to him. The next thing he noticed was that the boy was breathing rapidly, too rapidly; at the rate he was going he wouldn't get in any oxygen.

He turned towards the redhead, "Go get Madam Pomfrey!" He stayed calm, but there was an urge in his voice that made the boy rush off immediately. He turned back to the boy in front of him. "Harry, can you hear me." He said in a soft voice but the boy didn't react, so he reached out with his hand to shake his shoulder a little. That was a big mistake. The boy flinched heavily away from him and crawled further against the wall, gripping his own hair with his fists as he tried to bury his face further into his arms.

He moved back a little to give the boy some more room. "Harry, try to take deep breathes okay. In and out, slowly." He kept telling him over and over. He looked back over his shoulder where the bushy haired girl was still standing. What was happening to Harry didn't look like a curse or anything but he needed to know for sure and the girl, whose name he had already forgotten in the face of all this, seemed to know more.

"What happened?" He prodded.

"I… I think he is having a panic attack." She informed him, her voice was quivering.

"I can see that. Why is he having one, what set him off?" His voice was still calm, but there was a slight hardness in it. He turned back to Harry. "Breath in… and out." He said again. It didn't seem to help a lot, but at least his breathing had slowed down just a fraction, it was something at least. And there was nothing else he could do right now.

"Well I think it was the room, he's always a bit frigged in that room," the girl started off "but it may have been you, sir." She said uncertainly.

"What do you mean, it might have been me?" He hadn't done anything, right? He hadn't hurt him.

"Uh… you..." She started but was interrupted when Madam Pomfrey with the redhead in tow came rushing in.

"Move aside." She told him and he followed her orders. He stood back as she softly started talking to Harry. It worked, albeit slowly but at least it was progress. Madam Pomfrey turned back to him very soon after she had started talking to the boy, probably when she realised he was still standing there instead of getting back to his class, as he was supposed to.

"You should get back to your class." She told him pointedly. All he could do was nod and turn around to enter his classroom again. However he couldn't concentrate on the rest of the lesson as his mind kept drifting off to Harry and if he was all right. But he was even more so distracted by what the girl had said. He had caused that panic attack in the boy!

That thought ate at him like a mouse nibbling a fresh piece of cheese. But had to put it in the back of his mind right now, because he was standing in front of a class and they expected him to teach them, or at least do something. So that is what he did. Maybe not to the best of his abilities, but at least he tried. It's not like they could really expect much more with him barrelling into the job last minute and having such a rough start. Not that he really cared that much right now, because he was too concerned about Harry to really care about anything else.


	23. Chapter 23

**Chapter 23**

Harry didn't return during the lesson or afterwards, but his friends did. When they were already at least half way through the hour the redhead and the bushy haired girl walked back in. The boy went straight to their seats and started packing his and Harry's stuff, while the girl walked up to him. "Sir, Madam Pomfrey gave Harry and Ron permission to leave." She spoke softly to him so the rest of the class wouldn't be able to hear. He nodded and she moved back to her seat where she sat down.

Ron and she had been switching between staying with Harry when he had a panic attack or was feeling very edgy and couldn't deal with something. Not that that happened very often as Harry would never tell them if he wasn't coping well. But she started to read his expressions better and could often figure it out without Harry having to say anything. Either way they had decided that it would be best if one of them stayed with their friend and the other goes back to class so that they could take notes and wouldn't miss anything. Or at least that is what they decided after her pushing them a bit to agree with her that that was the best course of action.

At the end of the lesson Lupin asked her stay for a minute. So she packed her bag and moved to the front when most of her peers had left. "Miss Granger, right?"

"Yes sir."

"I just wanted to ask if Ha… mister Potter is alright." It would be unprofessional if he started calling his students by their first names, even if it was a boy he had met only minutes after he was born.

"Yes, he'll be alright." She said looking a little sad.

"Good…" There was something about the way she looked that bode him no confidence in Harry's wellbeing. "Do you mind if I ask you what you meant when you said that it may have been me who caused his panic attack?" He was leaning against his desk with his arms crossed over his chest, his voice wasn't accusing or anything if anything it was curious and maybe a bit blue.

"It's just…" She was not very often at a loss of words, but she found it hard to find the right ones now. She didn't want to offend their new teacher on the first day. "looked at him kind of intense." She looked a bit doubtful at the choice of her words but she couldn't come up with better ones.

"Oh…" That's all he could say. He didn't know what to think of her statement. Was that really all it took to set the boy off, and if so what had happened to him to cause a reaction like that just form a look. Disbelieve was the right word to describe his feelings at that moment.

"It's not your fault, sir." Granger interjected. "He's just having a hard time."

"Yes, well thank you for telling me the truth." He said and the girl took her leave, only for the next group to stream into the room.

He seriously needed to speak to the headmaster; he wanted to know what was going on. Unfortunately classes kept him busy all day and at lunch he had been unable to catch the man alone. So it was now half an hour before diner and he found himself in front of Dumbledore's office. He knocked on the door and the headmaster invited him in.

"Ah Remus, good to see you! How was your first day?" The old man asked him kindly.

"To be honest, not that great. Something happened during my lesson with the second years." He said, but he was interrupted before he could clarify any further.

"Yes, I heard about that." The smile had vanished of Dumbledore's face and he looked much older now than he had a second ago. He turned a heavy look towards him and continued with a serious voice. "Why don't you take a seat, there is something that you should know." The chair opposite to the headmaster moved back with a flick of the hand as to further invite him to sit down. He quickly sat down in the chair.

"I hadn't thought it necessary for me to tell you this last night, but it seems that was an error of my judgement. Unfortunately it wasn't the first." He said crestfallen. The way he said it bothered Remus the most, it gave him the feeling that some truly horrific had happened and for all he knew that could be true.

The more he saw and spoke to the people around Harry the worse his feeling got. It felt like his heart was clenched by a fist and tried to escape by beating harder. He wasn't sure if he really wanted to know what happened, but he needed to because he wouldn't be able to help the boy if he didn't know.

As that was what he was going to do, help him. When Dumbledore had offered him the job he was told that he would get to teach Harry as well and since he hadn't been able to be there during his childhood before he grabbed the chance with both hands. (Also of course because getting a job as a werewolf wasn't easy.)

Determined he turned to the headmaster. "What happened?" He asked and the headmaster carefully started telling him what had progressed the first several months of this school year and in a little more detail what had happened a few weeks ago. He finished off by talking about what Harry was suffering through now, the panic attacks and flashbacks. By the end of it tears filled his eyes, how could someone do something like that?!

He was angry, sad and frustrated all at the same time. He felt guilty for not being there to protect his best friend's child. But his emotions would get him nowhere, so after several minutes of trying to control them he faced the headmaster again. He balled his fists and his posture was tense. But he had questions and he wanted them answered, so he fired them off one by one.

"How is he coping with all of it?" He asked.

"He is doing better than we expected, he goes to his classes and isn't falling into the depression we were scared he might be captured by." Dumbledore calmly explained, but relief crossed his face for a second when Remus started asking questions instead of throwing accusations at him.

"Good, that's good. Is he seeing a mind-healer?" It would explain why the boy was coping at least a little.

"No, he isn't."

"Why not?"

"Poppy offered, but he refused and we didn't want to push him too hard." Albus took a deep breath. "Look Remus, he is a strong boy, and he will get through this. I'm sure of it. But it is going to take some time."

"He may be strong but he needs help and support to get through this."

"I know, but he has his friends and he knows he can talk to anyone on the staff if he needs to." And now he has you too he added in his head. It was one of the reasons to offer Remus the job. He was the closest person he had to his actual parents and he had thought that if anyone might help the boy it would be him.

"That's not enough, he needs his family, he needs people he trust." Remus said in exasperation.

"In a short few weeks it's Christmas break and Poppy and I were discussing whether to send him home or not." Albus said. Normally they let the students decide whether to go home or not, but they had discussed it and thought it might do Harry some good to be in a familiar place other than Hogwarts. Remus thought this through, of course he didn't really know the boy, but he too figured that it might be best for him.

"That might be best, yes. Maybe he will be able to relax a bit and start moving past this when he knows that his family doesn't view him any different."


	24. Chapter 24

**AN** Sorry for the long wait, since I hadn't really written anything for a long time I kind of forgot some of the things that happened. So I decided to reread the whole story. I made a few adjustments but nothing that would change the story so no need to reread anything. But I'm back on track now ;)

Also I hope you guys enjoy(ed) reading the new Harry Potter book, I loved it and read it in one go ;)

 **Chapter 24**

On the first evening of their first defence class with their new teacher Harry managed to slip away from Ron and Hermione to meet up with Draco. He knew the other boy would be concerned about him and he didn't want him to worry.

During their meet ups they usually ended up going to the same place: an empty classroom in the far south side of the castle. The room had a big window looking out over the lake and on a clear night you could see the stars shimmering in the dark night sky. Harry hoped that he would be able to find Draco there. They hadn't planned to meet up that evening, but he wished to see him, especially after the day he had had. However it wasn't just that leading him to their place, he had a feeling deep down that maybe Draco wanted to see him as well and that he might want an explanation about what had happened during their defence class. He wasn't sure if he could trust this feeling, but he wanted to be sure that he didn't disappoint his friend by not turning up.

When he got there it was him who was disappointed however because Draco was not there. Of course he should have known better than to get his hopes up, the only thing that ever comes from that is disappointment. He didn't feel like turning around right away, even without Draco it was still a good hide out. It was quiet here and always a sort of calmness washed over him when he sat down in the windowsill.

So that's what he did, sit down. He needed to get his thoughts straight anyway. He didn't know what to do with his defence lessons; he really didn't want to go there again. With his new teacher in _that_ room it was just too much! Maybe it was better if he skipped those lessons, but then again it used to be one of his favourite subjects and they would never let him get away with it.

Why did everything have to be so hard? He was just so tired of it all. Draco still hadn't shown up and it was nearing curfew now. He was without his cloak so it would be smart of him to get back to the tower soon if he didn't want to get in any trouble. Going to bed early didn't seem like such a bad idea either since he felt exhausted and he knew that he would probably not make it a full night because nightmares seemed to have become a nightly thing lately.

Two days later he still hadn't decided on what to do with his defence classes and time was running out. It was running out real fast as he and his two Gryffindor friends were already on their way to the classroom. Ron and Hermione were bickering about one thing or the other when they rounded the last corner and the classroom came into view. Harry became nervous at the sight of it and he slowed his pace till he came to a stop. This went not unnoticed by his friends who looked at him in question.

"I uh… I'm not feeling so well." Harry stammered. "I'm just going to…" He pointed awkwardly over his shoulder before quickly turning around and walking away. The two left behind Gryffindors gave each other a look before running after their friend.

"Harry, wait up!" Ron said as he grabbed his arm. "What's going on?"

Harry turned around to face his friends, he was tugging at his sleeves and avoiding their glances.

"You don't want to go to class, do you?" Hermione realised, and she was right as Harry shook his head.

Guessing that it had most likely something to do with what happened during their last lesson, Hermione started on the track of reassuring her friend. This was easier said than done however as she never had to deal with anything like this and she wasn't quite sure how to do it, but she gave it her best shot after twisting on what to say.

"Don't worry, okay, nobody is going to hurt you. And I'm sure Professor Lupin didn't mean to upset you last time, he actually seemed really worried about you."

Harry looked up at her in surprise. "Why would he be worried about me?" He didn't even know Harry, and it confused him that a stranger would be worried about him. The only people who ever showed worry towards him were his friends and maybe his head of house and the headmaster once in a while. So why would a complete stranger care about how he was doing?

"Because you scared the shit out of him." Ron chipped in to Hermione's revulsion.

"Ron!"

"Sorry," he said sheepishly "I just meant that… you know…" He didn't quite know what to say. "I would be worried too if I gave someone a panic attack, is all."

Hermione rolled her eyes before getting serious. "Look Harry, you can't avoid these lessons for the rest of the year. So why don't you come with us to class now and if you don't feel well you can leave, but you have to promise me that you'll go talk to Dumbledore if you do."

"We won't leave your side, mate." Ron added when Harry still looked doubtful.

"Okay fine." He eventually gave in and they now joined the Gryffindors and Slytherins who were already in the hall waiting for their teacher to arrive.

Harry in the end didn't feel the need to leave and he stayed the whole lesson. Although he did feel a bit tense, but it was not too bad. When the end of the lesson arrived however their new professor carefully approached them and asked the three of them to stay after class a bit.

"Harry I wanted to talk to you, but I thought you might feel more comfortable if your friends were here as well." Professor Lupin started. He moved to lean back against a desk in front of the three Gryffindors. He tried to take on a non-threatening demeanour to make Harry at ease.

Since the young boy wasn't complaining about his friends staying as well, he continued. "I wanted to apologise, for the other day. I didn't mean to scare you."

Harry was shocked, utterly flabbergasted. Of all the things he expected this would have been the very last.

"Uh… It's okay." He said carefully not quite knowing how to react to this. "It's not your fault." he awkwardly looked at his shoes.

"I know, but I still wanted you to know that I didn't mean to scare or hurt you." He paused for a minute to make that sink in.

"That is not all though, I actually have something for you." He said excited and strode over to his desk and started rummaging through the drawers. "I found it again when I was packing to move here, and I think you should have it." After moving some stuff around in the middle drawer he found the small box he was looking for and he brought it back with him.

He looked at the box in his hands, captivated. A little sadness crossed in his eyes before a small smile settled on his face. "Here" he said and handed Harry the small box.

The raven haired boy looked at it confused. He tentatively reached his hand out to carefully take it in his hands. "What is it?" He looked up at his professor.

"Just open it" Lupin encouraged him.

Harry carefully lifted the lit of the red and gold coloured box. His eyes widened when he saw what was inside it and he looked back up at his professor.

"I heard you are quite the quidditch star, just like your father. James caught this snitch" Lupin pointed at the snitch in Harry's hand "during his last match at Hogwarts, winning Gryffindor the cup." A fond smile on his face as he remembered the match.

Harry looked aghast at the tiny object in his hand, it had really been his father's?! A tear appeared in the corner of his eye and he quickly brushed I away. He was astound and didn't really know what to say.

"Tha… thank you" He said softly.

"You know your parents would have been proud of you."

Harry wasn't so sure of that, but he decided that it would be best not to say that out loud. "You knew my parents?" He asked instead.

"Yes, your father was one of my best friends in Hogwarts and afterwards."

"What were they like?" Harry got really excited at the fact that Lupin would be able to tell him more about his parents, because he knew so little about them. All he really had of them was the picture album Hagrid had given him last year (and now the snitch), before that he hadn't even know what his parents had looked like. And he was just so enthusiastic about getting to know what his parents were like.

"They were wonderful people. Look Harry I would love to tell you all about them, but you should all really get going to your next lesson. Why don't you stop by another time, when you don't have classes and I'll tell you more then, okay."

"Really?! Thank you so much!" He said, he wanted to hug his professor but that just seemed a bit weird so he settled on a wave before he and his friends left the room.

Although his friends hadn't really said anything it was still nice and comfortable that they had been there. Hermione had been right though, their professor really hadn't meant to upset him and he was so nice. He couldn't wait to see the man later so he could hear all about his parents.


	25. Chapter 25

Hey guys, I know you haven't heard from me in a veryyy long time and I'm so sorry! Life has gotten in the way and really wanted to finish it, but somehow I never seem to have any time, and I keep thinking "I'll do it soon" and stuff but then something else comes up. And now nearly a year has passed and I've lost the motivation to finish this story :(

However I do not want to leave you completely empty handed: If there is anyone who wants to finish this story, please send me a messege and you can post the rest here or copy the whole thing to your own account, please be my guest to complete this any way you want to!

again I'm so sorry for leaving you all hanging...


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